Yesterday  while I was out I saw a Fire Engine racing to a call and happened to mention to my passenger that I had always wondered why, when there seemed to be a medical emergency did a Fire Engine always show up first.  In my past life, Fire Engines only came to fires and a fireman only fought fires.  As with many things in The Villages it is different here, and also better here.  The Fire Engines and Firemen are part of The Villages Public Safety Department and they respond to Medical Emergencies as well as fires.  Thier training includes fighting fires but also Medic and EMT training.   There are 93 full-time personnel and 1 part-timer.  Three firefighters for every 2250 houses sold. The goal is 70% medic and 30% EMT.  There are seven Fire Stations in The Villages, placed stratigically throughout the neighborhoods.  That is the key to the Fire Engines arriving first.  Our ambulances cover the entire County and their response time, although excellent compared to other parts of the country,  is 10 minutes or less, our Fire Engines with para medics on them arrive in less than 4 minutes and start administering aid until the Ambulance gets there.  I learned this when I attended the Resident Academy and while attending was also  shown first hand the equipment that is on the Fire Engines that communicate symptons to the hospital,  before the patient  even gets there. For heart attacks they have a Code Stemi, which within 47 minutes of a cardiac call, the patient is in the cardiac cath lab getting a stent.  47 minutes, unbelievable.  The National “Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest save rate is 6%.  The Villages save rate in 2010-2011 was 44% and I would imagine with equipment and procedures advancing in 2012 it is probably even better.   This is happening because of early initiation CPR and early defibrillaation and also our Villagers getting involved.  Again, I highly recommend attending the Resident Academy as you really get to know a lot about everything in The Villages, even why the Fire Engines get their first…