History

The Silver Lake Rescue Squad was established in 1959 by a group of men who were concerned with the emergency medical care provided at the time. Prior to Silver Lake Rescue Squad, in an emergency, a patient was transported either by a family member or by a sheriff’s deputy in a station wagon with a cot in it. The original members were trained in basic first aid only. They raised money to purchase a van and a few first aid supplies. They were called to duty by a series of phone calls and the use of the fire department’s siren. In the 1970’s, the State of Wisconsin began its original Emergency Medical Technician classes. Silver Lake’s members were some of the first to participate. Sometime in the 1970’s, electronic pagers became popular for alerting members for emergency calls. In the early 80’s, Silver Lake Rescue members participated in a state pilot program that brought defibrillator’s into the pre-hospital setting. At that time, Silver Lake Rescue members were licensed Emergency Medical Technicians and were certified in cardiac monitoring and life saving “shocks” in the event of a cardiac arrest. In 1988 Silver Lake Rescue went on line with the state’s next level of care, EMT IntermediateTechnician. This allows Silver Lake Rescue Squad members the ability to use advanced airway devices, start IV’s in the field and give many life saving medications. Today Silver Lake Rescue Squad continues that trend of being the first when it comes to pre-hospital care with state of the art equipment such as Lucas II CPR devices, Philips MRx Cardiac monitors, and being the first in the state to use Nitrous Oxide in the field for pain management.