Published: July 02, 2009 10:51 pm      

Volunteers sustain area EMS

Paramedics agreement working out, officials say

CUMBERLAND — Volunteers remain the backbone of Allegany County emergency medical services, officials said Wednesday, but six months into an agreement with the city of Cumberland on how advanced life support is provided, volunteers and five county-paid paramedics appear to be working together seamlessly.

Steve Kesner, chief of Allegany County Emergency Medical Services Division, said the numbers suggest the agreement’s goal of reducing the burden of city paramedics responding to incidents around the county is being achieved. Five county-paid paramedics rotate between a handful of volunteer ambulance companies to provide advanced life support between 6 a.m. and 4 p.m.

“I can’t see any way that it hasn’t” decreased the city’s workload outside city limits, Kesner said. “Obviously, failed calls are down and the amount of calls are up. The number of calls the city responded to had to have went down.”

Statistics provided to the Times-News by Kesner and Gary Moore, director of the county Department of Homeland Security and Public Safety, show that county paramedics responded to 3,720 emergency calls between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. in the first six months of 2009, an increase of 397 over 2008 and up 570 from 2007.

Both failed calls, in which the city becomes the primary responder, and delayed calls, where the city is typically asked to respond due to a delay by county staff, decreased over the same period of time. There were 83 delayed calls and 103 failed calls during the day shift in 2007. The numbers dropped to 43 and 73, respectively, in 2008. This year, the numbers are 45 and 50. In all, there has been a 51 percent decrease in delayed and failed calls over the first six months of this year.

The operation has not been without its difficulties, Kesner said, as turnover and health issues have at times left only three full-time paramedics on duty. Each paramedic works four 10-hour shifts per week and when not at full strength, Kesner said, overtime is inevitable. Currently, only four paramedics are available until the end of July, when one worker returns from back surgery. Another recently returned from maternity leave.

In May, county EMS added a chase car, used by a paramedic who drives to the ambulance company. Should the volunteers not be present to drive the ambulance, the paramedic can still drive to the scene. If the ambulance doesn’t arrive, the call is reverted to the city of Cumberland.

The city is paid $42,000 this year under the agreement to cover the hours of 4 p.m. to 6 a.m.

When personnel are out, Kesner said, “there’s no relief. They like overtime, but they also like to be free to have a home life.”

“Is the system perfect?” Kesner asked rhetorically. “We’re doing the best we can with what we have.”

That best is less than one-third the number of paramedic positions recommended in a 2006 Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems study. The Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats study showed that 16.5 paramedic positions were needed to serve the increasing number of calls for emergency service in Allegany County. The county commissioners initially authorized hiring four and, last July 1, funded one more position.

The SWOT analysis was signed off by the overwhelming majority of county volunteer fire and ambulance companies. Moore said the goal is to work within the study and recommendations as agreed upon by all the stakeholders, including the volunteers.

The county’s five paid paramedics support about 65 more paramedics who operate in a volunteer capacity. Many of those volunteers’ day jobs are as paramedics with local private ambulance companies or in other jurisdictions. But when at home here, most, if not all of them, volunteer their time and respond to emergencies in their communities.

Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.