An ambulance belonging to the Kanawha County Emergency Ambulance Authority is shown at the KCEAA headquarters, 601 Brooks St. in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä on July 11, 2024.
An ambulance belonging to the Kanawha County Emergency Ambulance Authority is shown at the KCEAA headquarters, 601 Brooks St. in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä on July 11, 2024.
ASHLEY PERHAM | Gazette-Mail file photo
The method, called tiered response, ensures ambulances with appropriate medical personnel are sent to a call, rather than just dispatching the nearest ambulance.
“If you have a cardiac situation, you may need one level of staffing, as opposed to [if] you’ve got a sprained ankle,†said Tom Susman, KCEAA spokesman.
Dispatchers will be trained to identify which ambulance should be sent to which call.
Efficiency
Susman said the method will make the KCEAA more efficient, particularly in the rural areas of the county. He gave the example of putting paramedics on ambulances in outlying areas. In the cities, there could be “chase units,†which are vehicles with paramedics that can go out to a site if needed.
“If you’re in the [city] areas, it’s quicker for that chase vehicle to meet up with the ambulance,†he said.
Susman said that, according to Jody Ratliff, director of the West Virginia Office of Emergency Medical Services, KCEAA will be the first to use a structured tiered response model.
Cost, and savings
This will cost about $100,000 in start-up costs, which KCEAA will pay for.
“This is something KCEAA brought to Metro [911] that will improve KCEAA’s operation,†Susman said.
Susman said he thinks tiered response will save KCEAA money, because it will take away some duplication of resources and be more efficient. KCEAA is working to overcome a $4 million budget deficit.
Metro 911
Mike Rutherford, executive director of Metro 911, said his organization is still working out the exact cost of the changes. He said the new system will require a lot of training.
Kanawaha County’s Metro 911 Communications Center, seen here on Dec. 18, 2024, is located near Southridge, by Corridor G, in South ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä.
CHRIS DORST | Gazette-Mail file photo
“It’s really more of an advantage and help to the Ambulance Authority, which we’re completely behind,†he said.
Metro 911 has not discussed this tiered system with any other ambulance systems in the county, such as the ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä Fire Department. Rutherford acknowledged that it could be confusing to have one dispatch system for KCEAA and a different one for other services.
Benchmarks and timeline
KCEAA will use calls for cardiac arrests as a measure to see if the new system is working, Dave Seidler, KCEAA medical director, said at an Implementation Committee meeting Monday.
“We can see ‘Are we having increased resuscitations, increased patients leaving the hospital neurologically intact?’†he said.
Jason Wilson, director of support services at KCEAA, said the agency’s ambulance workers welcome the dispatching change. Paramedics — who have more advanced medical training — will be dispatched to calls requiring their expertise, and emergency medical technicians, EMTs, won’t be on calls above their skill level.
There’s no set date for the system to be implemented, but the KCEAA is preparing to take the first steps toward doing so.
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