Events to mark EMS Week serve to highlight efforts of emergency responders in Rock County.

When danger calls, local paramedics and firefighters quickly respond and frequently have to work together to help patients in dire need.

Janeville's Deputy Fire Chief Gerry Luiting said that emergency responders remain focused on their patients.

"We're here to serve the public, to help them in their time of need, and often times, some folks don't even realize what things we do provide for them," he said.

At Fire Station 1 in Janesville, they offered free blood sugar checks for residents and answered questions from the public on their efforts. One question: Why does the 911 dispatcher ask so many questions?

"What they don't realize is another person is actually dispatching us to the scene, but that information that they're getting helps the paramedics better prepare on their way to the call," Luiting said. "It also makes sure we have the right number of personnel needed to help with their emergency."

Luiting said that they respond to more than 5,000 fire and ambulance calls every year.

The collaboration between emergency responders begins before the patient arrives at the hospital, officials said.

Since opening in January, St. Mary's Janesville facility is busier than anticipated, handling more than 1,000 emergency room patients each month, officials said.

Chris Kaiser, St. Mary's Janesville Hospital EMS coordinator, said having community members trained in compression-only CPR, or CCR, is saving lives of those experiencing a heart attack.

"Here in Rock County, we're blessed to have a published survival rate of about 41 percent, and we continue that care from the field. And it's very big deal for smaller community like Janesville and the Rock County area to have internationally recognized high survival rates in our CCR program."

"In the chain of survival, the first step is the public, the community," Luiting said.