Copyright 2006 The Morning Call, Inc.
By NICOLE RADZIEVICH
Morning Call (Allentown, Pennsylvania)
Bethlehem has saved about $1,000 in overtime costs for its Emergency Management Services bureau and cut in half the number of calls sent to out-of-town paramedics during the first three months of the year, according to a city analysis released Wednesday.
Because it takes twice as long for an out-of-town crew to respond to a call for help in Bethlehem, Mayor John Callahan said the city’s findings show more residents are getting emergency care quicker.
“We’re right where we want to be,” Callahan said. “We cut the reliance on mutual aid by 50 percent and cut overtime by 50 percent.”
Callahan prompted the changes this year by budgeting an extra $156,365 in the EMS bureau for a four-member ambulance crew, bringing the full-time staff to 20 paramedics. The extra crew was financed, in part, at the expense of two positions in the city parks department.
City officials said the reduced amount of overtime does not come close to paying for the extra crew, but the effort is aimed at improving service in a growing city where new homes targeted at the elderly are booming.
Bethlehem’s EMS calls have increased 46.5 percent from 2000 to 2005, and city EMS crews haven’t been able to keep up. The city’s reliance on mutual aid went from 7 percent -- 274 calls -- in 2000 to 9 percent -- 771 calls -- last year, according to statistics provided by the city.
That mutual aid percentage has been cut in half for the first three months of the year thanks to the city’s extra crew, officials say. With only 100 calls diverted to mutual aid during the first quarter, the city is now within the acceptable standard for diverted calls.
John Kloss, director of operations at the Eastern Emergency Medical Services Council, said a city the size of Bethlehem, which offers advanced life support services, should have its EMS crews respond to 95 to 98 percent of its calls.
“Bethlehem is very close to 96 percent, which is a dramatic improvement over last year,” Kloss said.
Bethlehem is on par with Allentown, which has EMS crews fielding 96 percent of the 13,000 calls it gets a year.
City officials want their own crews to respond to calls within their jurisdiction because it takes those crews less time to get to the scene, due in part, to the extra time it takes to dispatch the call to an outside agency. Bethlehem can get to a call in six minutes whereas an outside agency takes about 12 minutes, Bethlehem EMS Director Gordon Smith said.
Smith said that the city was able to cut down on overtime costs not only because of the manpower but also because of scheduling. Two of the day crews work from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and the third crew works from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
During their last hour, the 8 a.m.-8 p.m. crews can get their reports written while the night paramedics respond to new calls for emergency medical help. And 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. crews can use their last hour to do the same while the later day shift picks up the calls that hour.
Last year, the city spent $2,000 in overtime during the first quarter; this year that’s down to $920.
“This has also helped with staff morale, getting our [paramedics] home to their families on time,” Smith said. “It helps the dispatchers because they can get a crew faster to the scene, and it helps with the police because they don’t have to stay on the scene as long while waiting for an ambulance to arrive.”
Councilman Robert Donchez, chairman of council’s Public Safety Committee, said the city’s findings are in line with what council was promised when it approved the new crew in the $54.9 million budget last year.
“Yes, it cuts down on overtime, but we never expected it would cover the cost of another crew,” Donchez said. “The intent was to provide better service.”
Donchez said better EMS coverage is needed in the wake of new housing development, especially senior housing.
In recent years, the city has welcomed huge senior housing communities, such as the $60 million Moravian Village on E. Market Street. Alexandria Manor is building three projects along Linden Street, and an old building on E. Third Street is being renovated for an assisted-care living facility. Last year, City Council rezoned a 9-acre property near Route 22 that would allow housing aimed at the 55 and older crowd.