Jeffrey Alderton
Cumberland Times-News
November 23, 2008 12:16 am
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CUMBERLAND — Cumberland Fire Department ambulances responded to out-of-city calls 723 times last year, with 459 of those calls in Allegany County and the remainder in nearby Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
At times, city ambulances have responded to more than one call outside the city, leaving the resources thin for city residents’ emergency calls.
An 85-vehicle pileup at foggy Finzel on May 23, 2003, drew three city ambulances and countless other companies to the scene where two people were killed and 70 people were injured that Memorial Day weekend.
When such emergencies occur, mutual-aid agreements already in place bring ambulance companies to the Cumberland central station to stand by for incoming calls.
The city and the county are discussing a new agreement that would eliminate the city ambulance response within the county during daylight hours when the county has five paid staff on duty to provide advanced-life support.
In the event that none of the staff is available, the city would still respond to out-of-city calls.
“It’s a very cooperative agreement we have been discussing with the county since last March or April,” said Cumberland Fire Chief Bill Herbaugh.
“We’ve been the safety net in this thing for a good many years and we’re trying to work out these things together.”
Herbaugh’s calculations show 16 percent of city ambulance calls last year were to locations outside the city.
Those calls — 459 in Allegany County in 2007 — incurred an average cost of $378, of which about $145 was collected on each call through patient billing. The city incurred an average expense of $232 on each call.
The proposed agreement would require the county to reimburse the city when it responds.
The projected drop in out-of-city calls would mean less travel for the city ambulance fleet — a 2007 International ambulance with 59,400 miles; a 2002 Freightliner with 94,800 miles; a 2000 Freightliner with 104,080 miles; and a 1996 four-wheel drive Ford ambulance that has 46,937.
The county has three paid paramedics and two cardiac rescue technicians on duty at various times and locations to respond to ambulance calls during weekday daylight hours.
Steve Kesner, the Allegany County emergency medical services chief, said the county medical providers would be located at various times at Tri-Towns Rescue Squad in Westernport and volunteer fire departments at Cresaptown, District 16, Bowman’s Addition and Corriganville in 10-hour shifts.
“We have done everything we can, not to change mutual-aid agreements. We are there to support the volunteer companies,” said Kesner.
Kesner and Gary Moore, who oversees the Allegany County Department of Public Safety and Homeland Security, detailed the progress of the county’s continuing efforts to assist volunteer companies in responding to emergency calls, especially during daylight hours when most volunteers are not available.
“The volunteers are the backbone of this whole thing. We and the citizens of this county are very proud of what our volunteers do. They are professional and cooperative and that allows us to provide a more effective response,” said Moore.
From January through June 2007, there were 274 calls out of 3,150 calls throughout the county in which volunteer companies had a delayed response. Upon alert, companies have six minutes to respond before the response is termed as “delayed.” In the same period, there were 289 failed calls where the companies were not able to respond.
But improvements are being made, as reflected in the January-to-June 2008 period, when the county experienced 244 delayed responses. Failed calls totaled 183 for the same 2008 period.
The county hopes to further improve the response by making the county-paid medical providers available.
The volunteer companies are providing stations, vehicles and various other accommodations that allow the county to place paid personnel for daytime response and thus alleviate the need for city ambulances to be dispatched outside the city.
“We know we can do even better when we can add more people,” said Moore. He said that 13 county-paid paramedics/CRTs are ultimately needed in order to have crews available for the daytime coverage. He said budgetary considerations have prevented additional hires for now.
In any event, the Cumberland fire department ambulances are on duty around the clock. “If we get called, we are responding,” said Herbaugh.
Contact Jeffrey Alderton at jlalderton@times-news.com.
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