City of Morgan Hill Public Safety Master Plan

stabilization, and treatment. The ambulance unit responds concurrently, but because of the distribution of ambulance units and workload, it typically arrives after the CAL FIRE unit. Santa Clara County contracts with a private ambulance provider, AMR, which provides ALS transport services throughout the county. Both the City of Morgan Hill and SSCCFD receive a first responder fee and a response time compliance fee. In FY-2017 Morgan Hill is projected to receive a combined $135,683 for its EMS first responder services and SSCCFD will receive $201,607. The city uses its proceeds to offset its contract costs, while SSCCFD includes this funding in its budget to pay for EMS supplies and personnel costs. In return for this payment, each agency must equip each unit according to county specifications, operate under County EMS medical policies, and are required to meet specified response time criteria that are monitored on a monthly basis. Santa Clara County also oversees EMS dispatching services and emergency radio communications for the ambulance provider and responding fire agencies. It is important to note that of the 3,326 EMS calls to which CAL FIRE units responded, CPSM estimates that upwards of 40 percent (approximately 1,330 calls) were non-life-threatening emergencies. Santa Clara EMS has recognized the safety consideration in responding at slower speeds during nonemergency situations and has increased the response time criteria in these types of calls from 7:59 minutes to 12:59 minutes. CPSM believes that CAL FIRE should evaluate its ability to adjust its response patterns on Priority II, EMS responses. ALS vs. BLS Response Many agencies struggle with the decision regarding the impacts of delivering ALS versus BLS EMS first response. There have been a number studies that have attempted to evaluate ALS versus BLS differences in terms of patient outcomes. 13 Under the current response agreement with Santa Clara EMS, both Morgan Hill and SSCCFD are receiving significant annual revenues for providing an ALS first response to EMS calls. Though the cost of maintaining an ALS delivery system is significantly higher than those costs associated with BLS delivery, CPSM believes that the first responder revenues sufficiently offset the additional cost associated with this level of care.

Recommendation: Morgan Hill and SSCCFD should maintain the current ALS first responder services in their respective response areas.

MUTUAL AID/ AUTOMATIC RESPONSE

Local governments use many types of intergovernmental agreements to enhance fire protection and EMS services. These arrangements take many shapes and forms and range from a simple automatic response agreement that will respond a single unit to a minor vehicle accident or EMS call, to a more complex regional hazardous materials team or a helicopter trauma service that involves multiple agencies and requires a high level of coordination. It is important that fire departments are able to quickly access extra and/or specialized resources to manage significant events. In addition, because these types of incidents do not respect jurisdictional boundaries, they often require a coordinated response. Sharing resources also

13 See “EFFECTIVENESS OF FIRST RESPONSE PARAMEDICS” By Thomas M. Dunn, Ph.D., NREMT-B, I William W. Dunn, BA, NREMT-P,23 Michael Krowka, BS, NREMT-P I Benjamin Dengerink, BS, NREMT-P I and Micah Ownbey, BS, NREMT-P I University of Northern Colorado, Greeley; 2 Denver Health Paramedic Division; 3 Eagle County (CO) Ambulance District Corresponding Author: thomas.dunn@unco.edu. ALSO; “Fewer Paramedics Means More Lives Saved” by Robert Davis, USA Today , May 21, 2006.

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