Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:
Elmhurst officials are reviewing fire department operations at a time when a growing number of calls are for emergency medical services. The review will focus on staffing and equipment levels.
City officials say the department is now fully staffed with 11 firefighters per shift. The city also contracts with Metro Paramedic Services, Inc., part of Superior Ambulance Service, for two advanced life support ambulances, with each staffed around the clock by two paramedics, part of a Metro crew of 12 who average seven years of experience.
But a number of residents have questioned whether two ambulances are enough for a town as large and spread out as Elmhurst. Many have called either for additional ambulances or for the city to staff fire trucks and engines with firefighters who are also certified paramedics.
Critics of the set-up say fire equipment and firefighters are often the first on the scene, ahead of the ambulance, and could provide advanced life support services.
Firefighter members of Elmhurst Local 3541 of the International Association of Fire Fighters have said many of the city’s firefighters are certified paramedics and would like to be able to use their skills.
But city manager James Grabowski has said he is concerned over the possibility of loss of state revenue as the state’s lack of a budget drags on. The city’s budget does not include any money for additional emergency medical services or staffing, but left open the possibility that money could be found if the council decides to move in that direction.
Fire Chief Thomas Freeman presented information showing that while the number of fire calls has remained fairly steady over the last 10 years, the number of calls for emergency medical services has grown from fewer than 3,000 to more than 4,000.
But Freeman said there have only been 133 instances where the city has called for an additional ambulance from another community, meaning that the city’s two ambulances have been able to handle nearly 97 percent of calls for medical services.
Elmhurst fire’s response time for an ambulance call is under four minutes, while calls involving mutual aid average less than seven and a half minutes. That time is about the same for both calls where an Elmhurst ambulance goes to another town and cases where another town’s ambulance responds to an Elmhurst call.
Freeman and Grabowski explained that all department responses are dispatched by the DuPage Public Safety Organization, DU-COMM, which responds to 911 calls and dispatches responders from 45 agencies in DuPage County.
Grabowski and others explained several aspects of the contract ambulance service, including that Metro does all ambulance service billing, that Elmhurst residents are not billed for any balance beyond what their insurance covers and that billing revenue over contract thresholds are returned to the city at the end of the year. That provision has returned hundreds of thousands of dollars to the city over the 40 years the city has contracted with Metro.
thanks Dan
#1 by Mike on February 25, 2017 - 10:25 AM
Since the new chief came from a department that didn’t use contract employees and he has never advocated for the use of contract employees in sure he’s working hard on his budget to find a way to hire more full time employees. I’m sure he’s also working on getting ALS fire companies since it would be providing better service to the community and he’s all about better service to the community.
#2 by b murphy on February 24, 2017 - 9:22 AM
Having grown up in Elmhurst I certainly know the deep-roots, shall we say, that Superior has in town.
I still remember the Cadillac ambulances running out of the house on Addison Street.
Nostalgia aside, I do hope that the folks at COE and EFD do a good, thorough and objective review of the adequacy of their EMS service, especially with respect to the growth in the EFD’s EMS call percentages as well as the ALS staffing levels and EMS response protocols in the majority of the other jurisdictions within a 10-mile radius.
As is well-known there is a higher rate of positive outcomes when the initial care is ALS.
Given what Elmhurst residents pay, via property taxes, for municipal services, it would seem incumbent upon the administration to ensure that their EMS services are at least as equal to other nearby towns such as Villa Park, Berkeley, Addison or Northlake. This would mean ensuring the percentage of initial on-scene response arrived with ALS capabilities in the highest percentages possible.
For comparison, my department serves approximately 45% less population than Elmhurst, but has 2 contract ALS ambulances and 2 ALS engine companies in service 24/7. We also have the same density of neighboring auto- and mutual-aid ambulances, all dispatched by a common PSAP, within the same 4 to 7 minute average response time.
The residents of Elmhurst, including my relatives and friends living there, are entitled to at least the same services as other, less-costly municipalities.
#3 by ffpm571 on February 23, 2017 - 8:27 PM
What’s not taken into consideration is that when both medics are down at the hospital on the far south end of town the amount of time that it takes to get a Paramedic on the scene. Sure send an Engine that is BLS.. Then have to get Ducomm to get ahold of Norcomm to send and them to dispatch a rig who is in a neighboring town meanwhile the BLS engine with Paramedics who can’t work as paramedics because one of the wealthiest Cities in Dupage cant possibly upset Davy Hill and take any of their billing away because Mutual aid companies cant bill residents. Its about money not Pt Care