Ambulance service delays in Sumter County also have forced firefighters to wait to get back into service after responding to calls, according to The Villages Fire Chief Edmund Cain.
Chiefs of the county’s two fire departments described their operations Wednesday night to members of the Ad Hoc Fire, EMS and Medical Transport Committee.
Since last fall, the number of calls in which Villages firefighters spent 20 to 30 minutes on scene nearly doubled, peaking in January and February at nearly 90 calls each month. Firefighters spent 30 to 45 minutes on scene for at least 40 calls each month since last December, according to data presented by Cain.
The delays mirror ambulance service delays of up to an hour or more this year by American Medical Response (AMR), a nationwide private company that provides ambulance service in Sumter County
Firefighters, who are paramedics or emergency medical technicians, usually respond in six minutes or less and begin emergency medical treatment, but they are not licensed to provide transport to the hospital and must wait on scene for ambulances to arrive.
Cain said some of the delays have been mitigated by moving equipment while leaving some firefighters with the patient. About 70 percent of fire department responses are for emergency medical calls.
“Every unit that responds in a paramedic-equipped unit within the system,” he said.
The Villages fire chief said he would favor having the two fire departments take over ambulance services instead of contracting with AMR, another private company or the University of Florida.
Committee members are studying 10 options for providing ambulance service outlined last month by County Administrator Bradley Arnold and are expected to make a recommendation by September to county commissioners.
Unlike Cain, Sumter County Fire Chief Rob Hanson did not endorse an ambulance service option.
“My professional views are embedded in those options,” he said. “I’ll reserve giving my personal opinion.”
Committee members are expected to hear from AMR representatives at their next meeting on July 7. The county pays about $1.2 million annually to AMR for ambulance and emergency medical dispatching under a contract that expires next year.
During a discussion after the presentations by the chiefs, committee members said the issue is more complex than simply replacing AMR.
Richard Kleindienst said which entity operates the ambulances is less important than providing efficient treatment and transport, then getting units back into service.
“You don’t want to throw out the baby with the bath water,” he said.
Leland Greek said whether a private entity or the fire departments operate the ambulances, they could face the same response problems.
Ambulance crews also face delays at hospitals, where they must wait until a qualified person accepts the patient. Committee member Jeffrey Bogue said some services deal with these delays by bypassing offending hospitals and taking patients elsewhere.
“The problem of off-loading patients is not unique to Sumter County,” he said.
Gail Lazenby said free-standing emergency rooms that have opened during the past several years in Sumter County could become a larger part of the system.
