Adds paramedics, ambulances, non-emergency call center
By Michael Erskine
The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
Copyright 2007 The Commercial Appeal, Inc.
Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton on Wednesday unveiled a comprehensive plan — which could cost as much as $100 million — to cut ambulance response time in the county’s suburbs and unincorporated areas and improve emergency services countywide.
The proposal, which would be enacted in four phases over three years, calls for hiring more than 30 paramedics to man every fire department vehicle on the front lines and could double the number of ambulances in the county’s fleet. Under the plan, a 311 call center would be established for all non-emergency calls to relieve the stressed 911 system.
Long term, Wharton wants the county to overhaul its fragmented emergency dispatch system by centralizing operations and implementing a unified 911 call system.
Calls made to 911 now are mechanically routed to the sheriff or appropriate municipal police dispatch centers, which then transfer ambulance and fire calls to other agencies.
Valuable minutes that could save lives are being lost in the transfer of calls, Wharton told members of the County Commission.
A more efficient system is needed with greater coordination and cooperation among the different agencies, he said.
“It’s all about saving lives.”
Wharton did not provide a cost breakdown for the various elements included in his plan.
But to help pay for it, Wharton said he will push for state legislation that would create a fee to pay for fire and ambulance services countywide.
Doing so would replace the property tax dollars that the county and municipalities use to fund those services, he said.
“We will have a concrete way of paying for this,” he said.
Sidney Chism, chairman of the commission’s law enforcement committee, said commissioners must be mindful of the financial implications of what’s being proposed, but safety to residents should be the county’s priority.
“It seems to me the model we’re using right now is somewhat broken. We need to do something about it,” he said.
Ambulance service has become a controversial issue again in recent months because of several highly publicized cases of response times as long as 42 minutes.
The extended times raised questions about whether the county’s ambulance service provider, Rural/Metro, had enough units in the contract to answer the growing number of calls from Millington to Collierville and from Arlington to the Memphis city limits.
Much of what Wharton has proposed, including the additional ambulances, will require the cooperation - and money - of Shelby County’s suburbs.
Wharton said he’s spoken with some of the suburban mayors, whom he described as “open” to his ideas, but will continue to aggressively push for their participation.
“The blood won’t be on my hands if this fails,” Wharton said.
To include the suburbs in the decision-making process, Wharton said he’s open to “sharing” the appointment process of assigning members to the county’s 911 board. Wharton is now solely responsible for nominating board members.
Wharton estimated the price of his plan at nearly $100 million, but that includes the cost of a new operations center to house Memphis and Shelby County dispatchers under one roof, which is already in the works.
The cost of the center, still in the planning stages, is expected to cost at least $35 million and would be funded with 911 fees already tacked onto local telephone bills.
The county’s current $1 million ambulance contract with Rural/Metro provides six primary ambulances and three reserves. It covers unincorporated Shelby County and every town except Memphis and Bartlett.
The cost is split by the local governments, based on their portion of total calls.
Under Wharton’s plan, the county would initially add three ambulances this year at a cost of roughly $1 million, followed by a review of how the additional units impact response time.
“It’s critical that we see what we’re doing with our money,” said Ted Fox, the county’s public works director.
Wharton said his goal is for ambulances to reach their destination within 9 minutes in all parts of the coverage area, 90 percent of the time.
Fox said a total of 17 ambulances may ultimately be needed at the end of three years to meet that requirement, essentially doubling the ambulances in the contract now.
Another aspect of Wharton’s plan includes the creation of so-called “fast response units” - SUVs manned by paramedics to supplement ambulances.
Commissioner George Flinn, a radiologist, focused on the proposal’s call to expedite the release of ambulances from hospital emergency rooms.
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Emergency Response Plan
Here are the main points of Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton’s three-year plan to improve emergency response. To read the full plan, go online to commercialappeal.com and click on the link with this story.
Phase 1
- Add three ambulances
- Add paramedics in outlying fire stations 24 hours a day
- Equip public buildings and high-traffic buildings with emergency defibrillators
- Add Global Positioning Systems and Mobile Data Terminals on all fire apparatus and ambulances
Phase 2
- Create a countywide fee for emergency services
- Link the seven 911 call centers
- Add “Fast Response” units manned by paramedics to supplement ambulances
Phase 3
- Complete centralized 911 center to house Memphis and Shelby County police, fire and ambulance dispatchers
- Add the number of contract ambulances needed to meet a 9-minute response time in urban areas and 12-minute response time in unincorporated areas
- Establish a 311 call center for all non-emergency calls
Phase 4
- Unified 911 call system
- Add contract ambulances needed to meet a systemwide 9-minute response time
- Paramedics on all front-line fire apparatus 24 hours a day