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Overland Park Fire Department cites strong cardiac arrest survival, plans Narcan leave‑behind and expanded AED outreach
Summary
Fire department officials told the Public Safety Committee they use Utstein/CARES benchmarking and reported cardiac arrest survival notably above national averages; the department will begin a leave‑behind Narcan program in the coming months and has implemented video laryngoscope airway equipment.
Chief Angela Caruso Yaney briefed the Public Safety Committee on Overland Park Fire Department emergency medical services operations, saying the department handles roughly 20,000 emergency responses annually and that approximately 80% of those calls are medical incidents.
"We exist to help people," Chief Yaney said, and she described the department’s provider structure: firefighters are certified as EMTs, some personnel hold dual firefighter-paramedic roles, and medical direction and protocol oversight come from the department’s medical director, Dr. Brian Bieber.
Yaney said the department benchmarks cardiac-arrest survival using the Utstein standard through the CARES registry to allow an apples-to-apples national comparison. She reported national Utstein survival averages of about 31% overall and 36% when a bystander intervenes. In contrast, Overland Park’s Utstein figures for 2023 exceed 60%, and preliminary 2024 numbers are reportedly similar. "We can see that there are some areas where we very clearly excel," Yaney said.
Yaney highlighted public intervention rates and gaps: about 73% of the time bystanders provide CPR here, a rate she described as "very good," while public use of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) remains very low and "didn't even qualify for a percentage point" in their summary data. The department plans to increase community hands-only CPR and AED awareness and to encourage businesses and property owners to register AEDs in the local PulsePoint and ECC registries.
On overdose response, Yaney described a recently authorized leave-behind Narcan program. She said state licensure language previously prevented EMS clinicians from dispensing or prescribing Narcan, though paramedics may administer it; the prohibition was removed through a legislative process and the department’s medical director has drafted a protocol. Yaney said education for crews will begin next month and that she expects staff to begin leaving Narcan with at‑risk persons in two to three months. The department will provide Johnson County–produced informational cards in English and Spanish with medication and resource referrals.
Yaney also announced the implementation of a video laryngoscope program across battalion chiefs and response vehicles, which she described as "truly the highest standard of airway care prehospital in the U.S. right now." She said the tool improves the department’s capacity to manage difficult airways in the field.
Committee members asked about AED location data and public hesitancy to use AEDs; Yaney pointed to PulsePoint and the emergency communications center (ECC) registry as primary sources and described outreach via hands-only CPR training to reduce liability concerns and encourage AED use. A committee member suggested contacting state lawmakers about maintaining National Fire Academy programs after staff reductions were announced; the chiefs said they were coordinating with regional partners and universities to continue training opportunities.
No formal vote was required for the information item.
