South County Fire will celebrate Emergency Medical Services Week with a Fire Station Open House and Teddy Bear Clinic on Saturday, May 18, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Edmonds Downtown Fire Station 17, located at 275 6th Ave. N.

More than 85 percent of the 911 calls that South County Fire responds to are medical emergencies. All of the department’s 260 firefighters are certified as either emergency medical technicians or paramedics and respond to medical calls as well as fires and other emergencies.

The open house will showcase the lifesaving services firefighters provide in the community every day. Activities at this free event include:

• Teddy Bear Clinic: Children are invited to bring a favorite stuffed animal or “patient” and receive emergency care from firefighters in the medic unit.
• Medic unit and fire engine tours: Learn about the lifesaving equipment on board.
• Safe and Healthy Aging: Learn about steps you can take to maintain your independence as you age. Free blood pressure checks, Files of Life, night lights and locking medication bags will be available while supplies last.
• ACT to Save a Life First Aid: South County Fire’s new first aid program trains people to act in the first five minutes of an emergency by focusing on three lifesaving skills — antidote training for opiate overdoses, CPR and AED for cardiac arrest and tourniquet and bleeding control for scenes of violence.
• Disaster preparedness: Learn how to make a “go bag” and other information to help you prepare for an earthquake or other major disaster.
• SAFEKIDS: Get answers to your questions about the changes in the state’s child car seat laws taking effect on January 1, 2020.

Participating partners include Snoqualmie Ice Cream providing free scoops, Alzheimer’s Dementia Friends, ServPro, Support 7 and Harborview Burn Center.

As the county’s largest provider of fire and emergency medical services, South County Fire provides around-the-clock staffing at 14 stations to serve more than 250,000 residents in unincorporated South Snohomish County, Brier, Edmonds, Lynnwood and Mountlake Terrace.

South County Fire’s emergency medical service program has received three national awards for excellence and innovation. The department’s cardiac arrest save rate of 60 percent is well above the state and national average.