County officials hear Parkview EMS update

Parkview EMS Manager Carla Gebert updates Fulton County officials on staffing, runs, response times, community engagement and more.

Now fully staffed, Parkview EMS is reporting strong numbers and community engagement since taking over ambulance services in Fulton County last July.

"We started off a little slow, which is what we anticipated. That's pretty normal when we go into a new area," Parkview EMS Manager Carla Gebert told the county council and commissioners last week.

To date, Parkview EMS has had 1,320 runs with 784 patients for a total of 58,462 miles traveled. Those figures include 200 transfers and 1,033 calls to 911.

Response times for a majority of 911 calls have fallen between 6-10 minutes at 49 percent – 12 percent under 5 minutes, 21 percent from 11-15 minutes, 11 percent from 16-20 minutes and 7 percent over 20 minutes. 

Gebert noted that any response taking more than 20 minutes is investigated to determine the cause. 

"Most of the time it is because we have multiple calls go out at the same time," she said, adding there are occasions when response times are delayed due to the size of the county or an address mix-up.

Gebert pointed out that the national standard calls for an average response time of 14 minutes or less for 80 percent of all calls in a given area. 

"We're well within that," she added. "The reason that's done is because there are less and less ambulances and resources throughout the country everywhere. EMS has a huge hole. There are deserts of EMS in Indiana and throughout the nation, and that's why the national standards have changed."

Gebert went on to note that Parkview EMS has responded to 20 cardiac arrests locally since taking over. Medics were able to return a pulse on five of those patients, two of whom were later released from the hospital.

"That puts us at a 10 percent save rate, which is double the rate of the national average at 5 percent," she said. "We'd love to have more, but we're happy with how things are going there, especially in a rural community like Fulton County."

Gebert also detailed Parkview's methods for medication verification, patient care reporting, protocol training, quality improvement and quality assurance audit and review. She also spoke on employees' involvement in community events and collaboration with the 911 director, first responders, fire departments and Woodlawn Health, as well as plans for EMR and EMT classes later this year. 

Gebert finished her report with a feel-good story about two Parkview EMTs, Brandon Earnest and Davis Watkins, helping out a local elderly woman after transporting her home from the hospital. 

"She couldn't really do anything, so they went out and cleaned her icy, snowy sidewalks, brought her mail in, took her trash out, things that were just very difficult for her to do, and she didn't have any help," she said, highlighting their efforts to make a difference. "Doing what's best for our patients is what we do. That's why we're here."