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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/03/2011 08 Tiered Response Protocols and Statistics Report - Fire Department • BUSINESS OF THE CITY COUNCIL YAKIMA, WASHINGTON AGENDA STATEMENT �j Item No. �S For Meeting Of May 3, 2011 ITEM TITLE: Tiered Response Protocols and Statistics Report SUBMITTED BY: Dave Willson, Interim Fire Chief CONTACT PERSON/TELEPHONE: Chief Willson, 575 -6165 SUMMARY EXPLANATION: The report is a brief explanation of the tiered dispatch program that Yakima Fire Department participated in from January — March, 2011. Four of the sixteen fire jurisdictions participated in the trial program. The goal of a tiered dispatch program is to reduce the number of calls a jurisdiction responds to without compromising patient care. Included in the report is an explanation of my decision to end our participation in the current Tiered dispatch program. Resolution _ Ordinance _Other (Specify) Contract Mail to (name and address): Phone: Funding Source APPROVED FOR SUBMITTAL: r City Manager STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Termination of current Tiered Dispatch Program BOARD /COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION: COUNCIL ACTION: Administration f 441414 O Suppression nvestigation L ) � & Education 4 40 North Front Street, Training /� et, Yakima, WA 98901 (509) 575 -6060 Communications F Fax (509) 576 -6356 www.yakimafire.com April 26, 2011 To: Honorable Mayor, Members of City Council . Dick Zais, City Manager From: Dave Willson, Interim Fire Chief . Subject: Tiered Dispatch Pilot Program As directed at the April 5, 2011 council meeting, I have prepared an explanation of my decision to end our participation in the current Tiered dispatch program. This short report should give ample reasoning into my decision. . The tiered dispatch program was entertained by a small group of the Yakima County Fire Chiefs 0 Association in 2010 and put into effect on January 1, 2011 for a 3 month pilot trial. Four of the sixteen fire jurisdictions participated in the trial program. The goal of a tiered dispatch program is to reduce the number of calls a jurisdiction responds to. Reasons associated with 'why each jurisdiction would use a tiered dispatch system vary depending on the operating circumstances of the particular agency. County Fire Districts may look forward to a reduced cost of operation. County departments pay a user fee to the dispatch center for each dispatched call and often pay volunteers for each call they respond to as well. These two costs can be lowered by reducing the number of calls dispatched to that District. Some Districts have an ambulance company stationed in close proximity and do not have a chance to respond from home to the station, and then from the station to the scene before the ambulance has treated and transported the patient. Other districts are far removed from an ambulance company and often arrive on scene first to render medical aid. The City of Yakima Fire Department does not pay for dispatch services per call nor do we pay firefighters per call so no cost savings are realized by reduced calls other than fuel costs. Yakima fire stations are strategically located around the city to provide very fast response times to serious medical calls. There are two advantages or reasons we would participate in a tiered dispatch program. The first is to reduce the chance of a vehicle accident and possibly injuring someone en route to a non emergency medical call. In my 28 years with YFD I can only recall one injury accident that occurred while en route to a fire call. The second would be to minimize the times personnel are responding to a non serious call while another life threatening call takes place in that same area. Both of these reasons are very low in probability. • On the other hand, the disadvantage of participating in a tiered response system is that there's a chance that a citizen with a serious medical emergency may not receive the most expedient • care or treatment due to the Fire Department not being dispatched. Though there may be a tremendous legal liability for not responding to a serious medical call, the true peril is that there • may be a chance that a citizen suffers permanent health problems or death. The comparison must be made in the name of risk management as to whether the number of missed serious medical calls is worth the gain of preventing an accident. After two months of participating in this program, we collected a list of 64 calls that were possible serious medical emergencies that we were not dispatched to. That is 64 calls in just Tess than two months time. These 64 calls are only the calls that we have documented proof of. I was directed by council to provide patient outcome reports for these calls which cannot be obtained because we did not participate in their care or treatment. However, I have attached are the dispatch reports for each of these calls. These calls were selected using our medical protocols for treatment of serious conditions and have been redacted for HIPPA law conformity and patient privacy. Deputy Chief Stewart worked hard to reduce the number of serious calls missed by having the medical control Doctor remove "difficulty breathing calls" from the list of non Fire Department response calls. This did help somewhat but still left 48 other serious calls unanswered by fire crews. I made my decision to stop the program based on the fact that: • We provided these services prior to this program with good success. • We decided to change the operational system. • I was made aware that this change has placed citizens at risk of health and life. • The change was not made out of necessity. I was not satisfied with the increased chance of endangering the g e public or with the possibility of opening the City up to scores of legal suits for an injury or death that could have been prevented. With this said, we are still looking at other means of reducing emergency responses to non emergency type incidents. This particular program just does not fit our jurisdictions operational system.