Officials don’t want staffing shortages to impact response times
By Kellen Olshefski
Staff Writer
Time commitment and availability of volunteers are leading to lapses in coverage by Elkhorn Emergency Medical Services, according to city officials.
Operating nearly exclusively on a volunteer basis, Elkhorn Emergency Medical Services is approaching somewhat of a breaking point, City Administrator Sam Tapson said.
According to Elkhorn Fire Chief Rod Smith, staffing the department, which has been volunteer-based since 1978, is becoming increasingly difficult with people having full-time employment.
“They have other jobs they have to be at,” he said. “Late night, early morning, when they’re going to work, they’re not available and at night, they have to sleep too.”
Smith said with the EMS program not being funded by tax dollars, the department is at a point where it can handle its day to day costs and pay volunteers on an on-call basis, however, funding full-time staff is something out of the departments current reach.
While having time slots not fully manned can lead to increased response times among the approximately 1,100 calls a year. However, Tapson assured, there’s never a time when no one responds as the department still relies on private sector ambulance services, such as Paratech or Medix, which responds in if the department is unable to.
“You fill the gaps, but nonetheless there’s still a gap that exists,” he said.
According to Tapson, in the event a first call-out isn’t responded to on an immediate basis by local EMS, there’s still a little bit of a time gap before a private sector response may be generated.
“That’s the kind of problem it creates,” he said. “I think everyone understands with EMS services time is a critical factor.”
Smith said it’s important to note no one has ever gone without service due to lack of staffing.
“We’re just trying to improve on that,” he said. “We have a back-up plan in place where if nobody from our staff can make it, the private companies take the call.
“So nobody’s lying in the street dying and nobody’s coming. That’s some of the misconception out there and that isn’t the case.”
According to Smith, the Elkhorn Fire Department currently has an arrangement with Paratech under which whenever the department is toned out for a call, Paratech immediately begins to head toward Elkhorn from its Delavan or Lake Geneva stations.
Smith said if county dispatch doesn’t hear anything from Elkhorn’s EMS within three minutes, Paratech is officially sent to the scene of the emergency.
According to Smith, the department’s average turnout time is about four minutes in the city, six to eight minutes in the outlying towns due to drive time.
Tapson reiterated that the number of staff isn’t necessarily the problem, but more specifically the availability of volunteer staff. To put it in perspective, Tapson related it to how a department with only 15 volunteers covering all of the shifts would be better off than a department of 50 that could only cover some of the shifts.
Looking towards the future, Tapson said the current plan, which has been included in the 2014 budget, is to staff the voids, outsourcing only the portion of service that can’t be covered on the local level.
“This would guarantee adequate staffing 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, by hiring out to a private sector ambulance service,” he said.
Staffing full-time individuals to cover the gaps would cost approximately $190,000, $120,000 of which the city would be responsible for.
While state regulations require two responders to be on the scene to transport an individual, Smith said this option would at the very least get a responder to the scene to begin giving care while they wait for an additional responder so they can transport to a hospital.
“This one person’s not going to wait for someone else to come, they’re going to take an ambulance and they’re going,” he said. “The people that come in after will take a second ambulance and meet them there or if it’s close to their home they’ll go straight there.
“That’ll help with some of the response times because when you’re having a heart attack, response times are pretty important.”
Smith said the department is also cracking down on EMS personnel requirements to respond to a certain number of calls per month.
Smith said when it comes to staffing, while the department has raised stipends from $25 to $50 to be on call at the station, it all comes down to volunteers having the time to commit and not the money factor.
“I think that’s where people are at, they just can’t commit that time,” he said. “You have to put somebody who’s going to be here and know they’re going to be here and I think it’s a win-win for us and for the patient.
“The patient is number one and I can’t say it enough, we want the patient to get the best care we can give and in a timely fashion.”
Tapson said while this will help alleviate the problem over the next year, the city and department will be evaluating other potential avenues in 2014 as they look for a long-term solution.
“This may not be the end of day solution,” he said. “It may be somewhat of a stop-gap, somewhat of an interim measure to ensure coverage through 2014 while we look at other options.”
Smith said even if the new staffing proposal is only a one-year pilot program for now, he’s thankful the city council and surrounding towns have been supportive of the effort.
