BY SUSAN DICKSON
Staff Writer
Orange County Emergency Services is failing to meet performance goals and will remain unable to do so unless additional resources are allocated to the department, according to a recent EMS report.
The report, presented at the assembly of governments meeting on March 25, states that it takes an average of 17 minutes for a paramedic to reach a patient in Orange County, five minutes more than the goal set in 2001. In 2009, an ambulance was unavailable 220 times when a county resident called for one.
“The basic fact is that if we have deficiencies in public safety; we have to fix them as quickly as possible,†Orange County Commissioner Barry Jacobs said. “There are some issues, one being that we may not have the money to do the kind of fix that we need to do.â€
According to the report, EMS calls for service have increased from less than 7,000 in 2000 to more than 11,500. The county had three 24-hour ambulances and one peak-load ambulance in 2000 and now has four 24-hour and one peak-load ambulance.
The county population has increased by 13 percent since 2000, while calls for service have increased 68 percent, which emergency personnel attribute to the county’s aging population. Meanwhile, the number of dispatchers assigned to each 12-hour shift has increased only from 6.25 to 6.5.
County EMS requested about $1.5 million annually for personnel and equipment increases. The request would fund 10 paramedics, 10 emergency medical technicians and nine dispatchers, as well as an equipped ambulance.
Jacobs said he wanted the county to look at the service model to determine if other models would be less costly for the county.
However, he added, “You don’t want to hassle over things like budget and service models when you’re having chest pains.â€
Orange County Board of Commissioners vice chair Bernadette Pelissier said she doubted the county would be able to fund the entire request this year, but that it could potentially be spread over several budget cycles.
“We have asked the manager to come to us with a budget without a tax increase, which means we’re going to be having some substantial cuts,†she said. “I see EMS as an essential service. Unfortunately, a lot of the services the county provides are essential services.â€
But emergency personnel have said the request can’t wait with EMS and fire personnel stretched thin. Fire departments are dispatched on emergency calls as first responders and often arrive before an ambulance. They cannot leave patients until paramedics arrive, which leaves the department understaffed to attend to its own calls.
“This is something that can’t wait for multiple budget cycles,†Carrboro Fire Chief Travis Crabtree said. “It needs to be attacked, and attacked hard.â€
Crabtree said the county has to ask for ambulance assistance from neighboring counties almost every day, adding that his department has waited up to an hour for an ambulance to arrive on a scene.
He said the 29 positions requested by EMS are the minimum needed for the county to provide adequate service, but that the department really needs about 60 additional positions.
He added that as the county’s population gets older, it would be nice for EMS to get a little bit ahead of the curve. Crabtree’s department already responds to about three calls a day to one local assisted-living facility alone.
“For now, we continue on,†Crabtree said. “We’re going to keep on helping the public in any way we can…. Ultimately it’s the county’s responsibility to provide EMS service.â€