Agenda - 12-04-2000-8e - Laserfiche WebLink

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assess and refer the patient or, if ambulance transport is necessary, assess and treat the patient while an ambulance is dispatched, if one was not dispatched initially. The Paramedic Initial Response Program has allowed paramedics to manage resources better. Other success measures include: • The cardiac arrest save rate has increased from 6 percent to 20 percent since program implementation. • Response time for emergency calls has decreased on average by 1.5 minutes, or 22 percent. • The number of light and siren responses decreased by 60 percent, thereby reducing the County's liability risk. • Based on call volume and population, EMS estimates that under the old EMS system the County would have had to invest in three new ambulances, 18 new full-time employees and two new emergency medical service bases. Costs for these components come to $870,000 in capital costs over three years and an annual investment of $1.04 million. The Paramedic Initial Response Program saves the County over $1.25 million a year by those standards. Classification of EMT-Paramedic Personnel has completed the classification study of the Paramedic and Paramedic supervisory positions to take account of the duty changes resulting from the restructuring of the program. The study included employee interviews to assess the duty changes and telephone interviews with managers in EMS offices in other counties to obtain comparative labor market information. Based,on the classification study, Personnel has identified a number of new and/or evolved duties and responsibilities that have resulted from the new IRV system. These are listed in Attachment 1. The new and/or evolved duties and responsibilities have impacted on the EMT-Paramedic and EMS Field Supervisor positions, including an increase in the level of decision-making; independence of action and overall impact on end results. In addition to the changes in duties and responsibilities since the last study, the County presently and for the past several years has been experiencing significant difficulty in recruiting the trained, experienced EMT-Paramedics necessary to effectively staff the IRV system. Presently four of the 15 EMT-Paramedic positions are open. Based on the significant increase in responsibility, the available labor market data and the County's recruitment experience in trying to fill Paramedic positions, it is recommended the salary grade for EMT-Paramedic be increased from grade 66 to grade 67. Classification of Assistant EMS Supervisor and EMS Supervisor An additional change in the Emergency Medical Services Unit is the development of an Assistant Shift Supervisor role under the EMS Field Supervisor. Specifically, the Assistant Shift Supervisor is responsible for the following: • In the absence of the Shift Supervisor, the Assistant Shift Supervisor supervises the work of employees engaged in emergency medical care, including providing instructions to