Ambulance response times down
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DAPHNE, Alabama (WALA) — The agreement between Medstar and Daphne to station an ambulance and crew in the city every day has been in effect for more than a month now. It came about after the city voiced its concerns about slow response times for its residents.
Things are moving in the right direction for the citizens of Daphne. That’s according to Fire Chief, LeAnn Tacon. One of Tacon’s first challenges as Daphne’s new Chief was to address ambulance response times that city officials said were way too long.
“The firefighters of Daphne were staying on the scene for an extended amount of time waiting for a transport unit to get there,” Tacon explained.
After meeting with Medstar, an agreement was reached. The private ambulance service agreed to station an ambulance and crew in a Daphne fire station seven days a week during peak times. After the first full month of doing this, the numbers are in and an improvement can be seen.
A month-long comparison showed the number of total runs, response times from dispatch to arrival and the longest response time. January 5th through February 5th (before the change) shows an average response time of 10 minutes and 45 seconds. Compare that to April 5th through May 5th, after the ambulance was moved to Daphne and the average response time is down to nine minutes and 30 seconds. Baldwin County 911 said these latest numbers aren’t fully vetted yet and will likely show even greater improvement once they are.
Andy McGee owns a restaurant in Daphne and says this improvement is a welcome sight and logistically makes good sense.
“In a small community like this, I want to see good stewardship of resources so if we’re going to have fire stations as often as we need them, it’s good that they are also able to do the extra service of being able to be a home base to an ambulance that might very well be going right alongside that fire truck anyway,” McGee said.
It’s a plan that so far is working out for both Daphne and for Medstar. Chief Tacon said the real winners in this are the people of Daphne.
“If you have an instance of maybe cardiac arrest or trauma arrest, minutes can be critical to getting ALS (Advanced Life Support) on the scene. Like I said, we’re going to provide you that ALS, but now it’s the fact of getting the transport there quick enough and yes, minutes are very critical in our line of work,” Tacon said.
Medstar said its own response time comparisons, though taken over a different timeframe is also favorable. Since the new business model is doing well in Daphne, Medstar said it’s also considering implementing it in Gulf Shores by stationing an ambulance there beyond the peak tourist season
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