Orange County NC Website
Comprehensive Assessment of Emergency Medical Services 52 <br />and 911 /Communications Center Operations Study <br />Shift Supervisors, are certified EMT - Paramedics, and are on duty during every shift. And, although <br />having numerous administrative, oversight, and quality assurance responsibilities as the senior member <br />of the shift, they are also, by virtue of the vehicle that they are assigned, able to respond to any medical <br />emergency if needed. Their vehicle, while not OEMS certified as a transport vehicle, is equipped with the <br />necessary equipment, medications, and supplies to enable the responding Paramedic Supervisor to <br />initiate treatment in any incident to which they may be called <br />The ambulances assigned to EMS shift personnel are referred to by their "unit" designation; for <br />example, "Medic 1 ". Medic 1, Medic 2, Medic 3, and Medic 4 are currently designated as 24 hour units, <br />while Medic 5 (6am -6pm) and Medic 8 (6pm -6am) combine to provide the fifth 24 -hour ambulance <br />referenced in the EMS System Plan. In addition, two (2) "prime- time" ambulances; Medic 6 (9am -9pm) <br />and Medic 7 (12 noon - midnight) are assigned to the Chapel Hill and Carrboro area seven days per week. <br />Figure 1 <br />EMS Unit Assignments <br />Unit <br />Hours <br />Location <br />Medic 1 <br />24/7 <br />Revere Rd. <br />Hillsborough <br />Medic 2 <br />24/7 <br />Roberson St. <br />Carrboro <br />Medic <br />24/7 <br />Mason Farm Rd. <br />Chapel Hill <br />Medic <br />24/7 <br />Mt. Willing Rd. <br />Efland <br />Medic 5 <br />12/7 <br />6am -6pm <br />[Phelps Rd. Location Pending] <br />N. Orange Co. <br />Medic <br />12/7 <br />9am -9pm <br />Eubanks Rd. <br />Chapel Hill <br />Medic 7 <br />12/7 <br />12pm -12 am <br />TBD <br />Chapel Hill <br />Medic 8 <br />12/7 <br />6pm -6am <br />Roberson St. <br />Carrboro <br />EMS Response Zones <br />The diagram that follows identifies the currently designated EMS District boundaries within Orange <br />County as well as the vehicle and staff staging locations referenced above. <br />As the County has grown in population and the corresponding EMS annual call volume has grown with <br />it, EMS has evolved, out of necessity, from a traditional "static" model of ambulance location and <br />deployment to a modified "system status" model of vehicle deployment in an effort to keep pace with <br />call demand as well as citizen expectations of providing timely response. <br />It is not unusual during the busiest hours of the day, however, for EMS to be down to one (1) or "no" <br />ambulances available to respond to the next incoming 911 call requesting emergency medical assistance <br />somewhere in the County. For example, referring to the County EMS map that follows, say that Medic <br />1, 6, and 7 are each on scene at three separate emergencies, Medic 4 and 8 are each at different <br />hospitals with recently transported victims, Medic 2 is enroute to a hospital with a victim, and Medic 3 <br />has just been dispatched to a highway accident with injuries. At this point, Medic 5, normally staged in <br />the northern area of the County, would be directed to "move -up" to either the Hillsborough or the <br />Hampton Point area to be closer to the center of the County and in turn more readily available to <br />respond in any direction if called; at least until another ambulance becomes available. <br />Medic Units were directed to "move -up" to address ambulance shortages 2,360 times in 2011. <br />Solutions for Local Government, Inc. 8 <br />