The Naples Daily News
NAPLES, Fla. — Call it subtraction by way of addition.
Collier County EMS, which has been under fire for slow response times in the city of Naples, added another ambulance unit within city limits on Thursday to decrease on-scene arrival times.
Officials say the extra unit, which brings the total number in the city to three, should result in better patient outcomes.
The move came weeks after complaints over county-run EMS response times in the city, in some cases surpassing 15 and 20 minutes, spilled into public discourse. On Monday, the Naples City Council called for a committee to explore alternative hospital transport options.
These concerns became public after outcry over a 911 call on March 19.
In that call, a Collier EMS ambulance got lost on its way to a patient, Daisy May Cannon, 82, who was complaining of weakness and loss of appetite.
EMS personnel arrived at the 13th Street North address nearly 15 minutes after the emergency call was placed and 10 minutes after city of Naples firefighters arrived.
Cannon eventually died after suffering cardiac arrest in the ambulance while in transport to the hospital, according to county reports.
In another case, it took EMS personnel more than 20 minutes to reach a patient at a Third Street South restaurant. The patient was suffering from low blood pressure, going in and out of consciousness and vomiting, according to city and county reports.
City and county officials have blamed those calls on everything from poor communication to congested traffic, a lost sense of urgency to inadequate resources.
In the fallout, Naples officials have been flirting with the idea of starting a new ambulance service.
Naples City Councilman Doug Finlay points out the city pays nearly $2.7 million to the county for EMS service and is not seeing a fair return.
However, Steve McInerny, chief of the Naples Fire Rescue Department, said the additional ambulance in Naples is a “good step forward” toward improving emergency response in the city.
The fire department works in coordination with Collier EMS to respond to medical emergencies, but only EMS can transport patients to the hospital.
“I think it will definitely enhance the overall response times to scenes,” McInerny said.
The move does not bring an additional vehicle or staffing to Collier County. Rather, EMS officials moved an ambulance away from a station at Pelican Bay in North Naples, which previously had two.
Now the Medic 1 station at Eighth Avenue South will have ambulances.
“I’m just moving pieces around the checkerboard,” said Jeff Page, chief of Collier EMS.
Currently, Collier EMS runs 23 ambulances full time in the 2,000-square-mile county, in addition to several part-time units.
Page called the move a “temporary fix” in the middle of ongoing talks between county and Naples city officials.
Meanwhile, the city continues to explore long-term solutions to its EMS concerns.
Finlay said that exploration could include the city seeking to establish its own ambulance service or, as Page has suggested, adding a unit staffed with one Naples firefighter-paramedic and one EMS personnel.
So far, Finlay said, he has been pleased with how Collier County government has initiated changes since reports of slow ambulance response times have arisen.
“They have been very responsive to our concerns,” he said.
Two weeks ago, County Medical Director Dr. Robert Tober ordered a change in EMS protocol aimed at promoting faster response times. He suspended a previous rule that EMS vehicle travel without lights and sirens when responding to low priority medical calls.
Tober has also called for greater communication between first responding agencies (fire departments, county EMS and law enforcement) and a standardization on how each agency responds.
Tober will offer his recommendations to the Collier County Commission at the regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday. This item is scheduled to be discussed around 1 p.m.
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