Assembly approves new full-time ambulance crews

The Mat-Su Borough Assembly has approved a plan for two new full-time ambulance crews, one of which will be located in the Northern Susitna Valley.

The ordinance approving the restructure was originally scheduled for a vote on March 5^th, but was delayed until this week’s meeting.  At the March 5^th meeting, the ordinance’s wording was altered to ease concerns that the current on-call responder system would be phased out entirely.  Borough EMS director Ken Barkley told the Trapper Creek Community Council last month that it is not his intent to phase out on-call responders.  There will likely be an impact on the number of on-call responders, however, because the borough plans to look to current EMTs first to fill the full time positions.

Barkley says the main motivator for the shift to more full-time EMTs and paramedics is response time.  He outlines the different hypothetical scenarios for responders to an emergency call that comes in the middle of the night.

“The pager goes off, they’re in bed asleep. So they have to get up, get dressed, rub their eyes, go outside, scrape the windshield, make the hole big enough to drive safely and respond to the station, get in the ambulance and then proceed on from there. The difference is we have people in the station, get on the ambulance and go.”

Ken Barkley says having the full-time crews available to immediately dispatch will reduce response times by about half.

Because the new ambulance plan reallocates resources currently being spent on overtime for on-call responders, the Department of Emergency Services says it will not require additional funds for the full time positions this year.  Some assembly members expressed skepticism as to the long-term cost of the shift, and say they will keep a close eye on the numbers.

In the end, even the budget skeptics mostly voted in favor.  The final vote was six to one to approve the plan, with only Assembly Member George McKee voting against it.