Vancouver Fire Department (VFD) will begin to pilot an innovative new response to medical calls on April 1. The three month trial includes the use of more efficient SUV’s staffed by a Paramedic and an Emergency Medical Technician in response to lower priority medical calls instead of a fire truck and full crew.
Fire Chief Joe Molina worked collaboratively with firefighter’s union leadership and fire department staff to develop the new pilot project based on recommendations from a citizen committee report published last fall.
“The Citizen Resource Team took six months to review Fire and EMS operations and put a lot of work and thought into their recommendations for possible changes to how we operate,” Molina said. “At least four of the recommendations addressed our medical response mission and we wanted to pilot some of the ideas as quickly as possible.”
Recommended changes included stopping fire department response to non-emergency calls, utilizing smaller vehicles to respond to low priority medical calls, and reevaluating the effectiveness of staffing and scheduling options that better match the emergency call load.
“This SUV pilot – designated Rescue One and Rescue Two – will change how we deliver services and allow us to implement all four recommendations of the community panel. At the same time, we will carefully evaluate the impact of this test pilot on all of our emergency services” Molina said. “A goal is to keep fire engines available for life-threatening emergencies and fires. With this change, we think we can improve our response times to those time-critical events,” Molina said.
VFD responds to more than 20,000 calls a year – well over half of those calls are requests for medical assistance. “People call us for everything from a cardiac arrest to minor medical problems,” said Jay Getsfrid, EMS Officer. “We use a dispatch system that prioritizes the calls but we traditionally sent the same equipment, no matter what the problem – a fire truck’s larger crew – because that was all that was available. The smaller SUV vehicle adds a new tool.”
Fire Department staff worked with the county’s Medical Program Director, Lynn Wittwer, M.D., to evaluate the seriousness of each call type and identify events that could be included in the trial or even handled by an ambulance without a fire department response. “We looked at each call type individually and assessed the frequency of interventions being required or of a person needing to be transported with lights and sirens to the hospital,” Getsfrid explained. “We identified calls that were not life threatening and that could be handled differently.”
“We are working hand in hand with our Medical Director and the ambulance company to mesh resources, share data, and evaluate whether the program is accomplishing its purpose or if something needs to be adjusted,” Molina said. The program will be monitored daily and data will be evaluated weekly.
Chief Molina said that he hopes this trial will lead to a more effective and efficient response for high and low priority calls. “We are a committed member of the emergency service community and recognize our role in improving the system. We are approaching this carefully, but feel like we have an opportunity to fundamentally change the way we respond to calls within our service area,” Molina said.
The new Rescue units will be in service ten hours a day during peak hours of call load, four days a week, and will be mobile during these hours throughout the City of Vancouver and Fire District 5.
The Fire and EMS reassessment is one of a series of departmental reengineering processes underway at the City of Vancouver under City Manager Eric Holmes.
For more information, visit: http://www.cityofvancouver.us/fire
Media contact: Jay Getsfrid, EMS Officer, Vancouver Fire Department (360)487-7220 or jay.getsfrid@cityofvancouver.us
Republished 3/30/13 1159 Hours PST
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