By EMS1 Staff
MANATEE, Fla. — An EMS agency is hoping to relieve fatigued EMS providers and free up resources with a new program that decreases the number of ambulances making runs at night.
The Bradenton Herald reported that Manatee County EMS decided to decrease the number of ambulances during night time shifts after looking at data from the last few years.
Currently, the agency has 18 ambulances at night and 19 during the day.
Chief Paul DiCicco said the goal behind the year-long pilot program is to give EMS providers more resources during peak hours, which are between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.
The program will also include evaluating call data to decide which ambulances do not need to be in service at night, and Public Safety Director Bob Smith said the time of year will also be factored into the evaluations.
“Depending on where they’re at, we’ll look at pulling that truck after a certain point at night and move trucks closer to it to cover that zone,” he said.
Smith added that they will also determine which EMS stations respond to the least amount of calls at night and are able to close, at which point nearby ambulances will cover their zones.
DiCicco said he expects the outcome of the program “will be positive.”
“By making this change, it kind of spreads unit usage across the fleet,” he said.
Smith said the decrease in ambulances will also allow for EMS providers who usually work busy nights to be split into 12-hours shifts instead of “working 24 hours straight.”