Orange County NC Website
1 <br /> ORANGE COUNTY <br /> ASSEMBLY OF GOVERNMENTS <br /> ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br /> Meeting Date: March 25, 2010 <br /> Action Agenda <br /> Item No. <br /> SUBJECT: Emergency Medical Services Delivery Report <br /> DEPARTMENT: Emergency Services PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br /> ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: <br /> PowerPoint_Presentation F. Rojas Montes de Oca, Jr., Emergency <br /> 3/16/10 Memo — Municipal Fire and Services, 919-245-6100 <br /> Emergency Services Perspective <br /> PURPOSE: To present an update to Assembly of Governments members regarding the <br /> delivery of emergency medical services (EMS) and the impact on stakeholder agencies <br /> particularly in the Towns of Carrboro, Chapel Hill and Hillsborough. <br /> BACKGROUND: During the mid-1990's, the Department of Emergency Services began to <br /> evolve as a result of the changing demographics and increased urbanization within Orange <br /> County. The calls for emergency medical treatment and transport continued to increase, <br /> making apparent changes needed to continue providing reliable, consistent service. The <br /> volunteer medical transportation service merged with the County-operated treatment <br /> (paramedic) services in 2003 to create the current Orange County Emergency Medical Services <br /> system. <br /> INCREASED CALLS FOR SERVICE REQUIRE INCREASED RESOURCES <br /> Since 2000 emergency medical services (EMS) calls for service have increased from 6,864 to <br /> the current calls for service workload of 11,500+. In 2000 there were 3 (24-hour) ambulances <br /> and 1 peak-load (12-hour) ambulance. In 2010 there are 4 (24-hour) ambulances and 1 (12- <br /> hour) ambulance. Although the population has increased by 13% since 2000, the calls for <br /> service have increased 68%. <br /> In 2000 there were 6.25 telecommunicators (dispatchers) assigned to each 12-hour shift. In <br /> 2010 there are 6.5. The telecommunications phase of the call is critical to ensuring the request <br /> (911 call) is processed quickly and effectively. The goal is to process and push the call to the <br /> first response agencies within 90 seconds of receipt, but due to added workload and flat <br /> resources, the current average process time is 135 seconds. <br /> Emergency Services is failing to meet performance goals established in 2001. At that time, the <br /> Department set a goal of 12 minutes for a paramedic to reach every patient. Today the time to <br />