June 18, 2021
By: Dwayne Page
Should the DeKalb County Ambulance Service expand the hours of its day truck ambulance operation?
The answer is yes according to EMS Director Hoyte Hale and he met with the budget committee of the county commission Wednesday night to formally make that request.
DeKalb EMS currently operates with two 24 hour trucks (ambulances) seven days a week along with a day truck ambulance Monday through Friday each week from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. Hale wants to expand the use of the day truck operation to 12 hours a day, seven days a week to meet the increasing demands.
“Due to an increase in the population, lake related activities and transfers on weekends, the call volume has drastically increased. A day truck ambulance would be of benefit such as reducing safety risks to other crew members due to fatigue, greater county coverage and response time, employee retention, less wear on current ambulances and increased revenue due to transfers,” said Director Hale.
“Currently, during weekends the county has coverage provided by two ambulances. When hospital transfers occur, there is only one ambulance remaining to provide county wide coverage. During these times of single ambulance coverage, other calls occur and leave the county uncovered requiring these calls to wait for mutual aid (ambulances coming from other counties) to arrive. Within the last year, there has been 3,744 responses, 2,782 transports with a total of 175 out of county transfers on the weekends. A Saint Thomas EMS unit has transferred 90 of these calls due to a (DeKalb County) ambulance being out of the county on a transfer, resulting in lost revenue to the county,” Director Hale continued.
To adequately staff the expanded day truck service, Director Hale is asking the county to fund three more full time paramedics or AEMTS, EMTS to work Mondays through Sundays on 12 hour shifts. One of the two day truck crews would work two days on and then be off for three days while the other crew would work three days on and be off for two days.
Meanwhile, Director Hale plans to make application for an Assistance to Firefighters Grant to purchase three mechanical Lucas Chest Compression devices which can deliver automatic chest compression with minimal risk of interruptions during patient transport. If approved the county would have to fund a 5% grant match of about $3,125.
Director Hale is also asking that the county find money to purchase and install the Stryker loading systems on four ambulances at a cost of $25,000 each through either state or federal grant funding or local capital projects monies.
“What that would allow us to do is when we pull up on a call and get out, the cot would automatically come out and lower down and when we get the patient, place him on the cot and begin to load him on the ambulance the system would lift the cot with the patient and place it into the ambulance without the staff having to do any heavy lifting preventing any possible back injuries,” said Director Hale.
Hale’s requests further include funding for a newer four wheel drive EMS SUV with an equipment package.
“An SUV would be of benefit for response to 911 calls providing the space for necessary equipment in case of mass casualties, the capabilities to reach destinations with difficult access as well as use in traveling to trainings for continuing education. The current EMS vehicle is a 2006 Ford Crown Victoria with approximately 160,000 miles which does not have adequate space for the equipment needed and requires constant maintenance,” said Director Hale.
Price options for an SUV range from $26,634 to $35,457 according to three proposals quoted by Director Hale.
The budget committee has not yet acted on the EMS requests.