Once again the citizens of King County will go to the polls on Nov. 6 to cast their vote on the important Medic One six-year levy. The King County Medic One service is a world-renowned medical response system, this year celebrating 30 years of service and support from the voters.

In 2006, the EMS system responded to over 166,000 calls to 9-1-1 (53,000 for advanced life support), an increase of 6.9 percent, and still maintained a steady response time of 7.5 minutes. The cardiac attack survival rate as discharged from the hospital alive was 41 percent.. This is outstanding when you consider this rate for major cities across the country is anywhere from 5 to 30 percent.

And to add to that statistic is the fact that our Medic One does the job with less paramedics and dollars expended for Medic One units of equal or greater size.

King County's Medic One outstanding service record continues to lead the country, indeed the world, in quality of emergency life support. Medic agencies from around country and the world continue to come here to learn and emulate our EMS/Medic One Department.

I urge everyone to vote this November and to VOTE "YES" for MEDIC ONE to help keep this wonderful service to our citizens funded for the next six years.

Wayne Corey

Enhanced Public Safety Committee

Des Moines