Who ya gonna call? Don’t worry about it

Once upon a time in the not-too-distant past – as recently as the 1970s – calls to transport sick or injured people to hospitals often went to the local funeral home or coroner. That’s because those were the only entities with vehicles equipped to haul bodies, living or dead, from one place to another.

Since then there’s been a revolution in emergency medical response that has vastly improved patients’ chances of survival between the call for help and their arrival at a hospital.

With the creation of the federal Department of Transportation in 1966, states were required to begin developing regional Emergency Medical Service systems with DOT funding. Money began to flow for their creation and development, first in cities and gradually into most U.S. communities of any size.

Flash forward to 2010. Today, EMS-staffed, state-of-the-art ambulance services are spread across the nation. Some are part of a particular hospital’s services, others are owned by cities or counties or funded by special taxing districts.

The proliferation of these services has led to formalized service area boundaries, mutual aid agreements and GPS-capable dispatch systems that can pinpoint the location of the emergency whether the caller gives an address or not.

With five ambulance services in the Larimer-Weld area staffed with highly trained EMS personnel, residents in need of a fast response and professional medical care on the way to the emergency room couldn’t be better covered.

But care has been taken to make certain that a call for help doesn’t result in more than one ambulance responding.

“It’s amazing when the public calls 911,´ said Mark Turner, training captain with Thompson Valley EMS. “A lot of people have thought a long time to get a system that gets you to a hospital in a timely manner.”

Thompson Valley EMS, which serves a 450-square-mile area, is funded through a special taxing district. That area includes Loveland, where the service areas of Banner Health and Poudre Valley Health System hospitals overlap with McKee Medical Center and Medical Center of the Rockies, respectively.

With both facilities located in Thompson Valley’s territory, the health-care systems are relieved of the responsibility – and financial burden – of having to staff and fund their own ambulance services.

North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley also does not maintain its own ambulance service. Weld County Paramedic Services is a county-owned service that responds to an average of 15,000 calls annually throughout most of the 4,000-square-mile county, except the portion served by the local Frederick-Firestone service.

The other two ambulance services in Larimer County are Poudre Valley Hospital’s in Fort Collins, serving the north part of the county, and Estes Park Ambulance Service, owned by Estes Park Medical Center.

Where to go

Where a patient is taken once he or she is picked up by an ambulance depends on many factors. As a general rule, the ambulance will go to the nearest facility equipped to deal with the patient’s condition. If their injuries aren’t serious, patients have some say in where they wish to go for treatment – within reason.

In the case of traumatic injuries, patients are either taken to MCR or NCMC, the two top-rated trauma treatment centers in Northern Colorado, both rated Level 2. If the injury is even more serious, patients are transported to a Level 1 trauma facility in Denver.

“Paramedics make that decision in the field based on risk factors,´ said Pam Brock, a PVHS spokeswoman. “For just normal calls, there’s a destination protocol set by the state that determines what illnesses go where. That’s where the training of EMT people is a really important piece.”

Local ambulance services respond to tens of thousands of calls every year, but the chance of more than one showing up for a particular call is remote.

“That’s not likely to happen unless it’s a border call or a major accident with multiple injuries,” Turner said.

The technology of the 21st century also allows hospitals to post online their numbers of open beds – and dispatchers to access that information. And with today’s computerized dispatching centers and GPS-tracking systems in most ambulances, the response for help across the region is all about getting to the patient as quickly as possible.

“There isn’t any competition of ambulance service here,´ said Lyle Huff, a paramedic with Thompson Valley. “With our mutual aid agreements, it’s more of a cooperative thing than a competitive thing.”

Steve Porter covers health care for the Northern Colorado Business Report. He can be reached at 970-221-5400, ext. 225, or at sporter@ncbr.com.

Other articles from this issue:

A-B in talks with city about selling land

Berthoud subdivision to seek home-grown power

E-bike maker test drives Old Town shop

Eco-friendly burials take recycling to logical end

Green Summit set for April with new features, awards

PVHS starts on Water Valley medical fitness center

Riverwalk could also include ice arena

RMI2 welcomes three new companies

What’s next for NextMedia? Restructuring under Chapter 11

Why did the doctors cross the road?

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