The EMS Ambulance Performance Standards Subcommittee met on Thursday to discuss the efficiency of Gold Cross EMS, and it became very clear that Commissioners want to make dramatic changes to the 911 Department and the current Gold Crosses Memorandum Of Understanding.
The committee, chaired by District 6 Commissioner Ben Hasan, began the meeting by asking 911 Director Daniel Dunlap if having Gold Cross personnel working as dispatchers in the 911 center would improve the department’s efficiency.
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Dunlap told commissioners that having such an arrangement with Gold Cross employees taking 911 calls would actually be a hindrance because city 911 dispatchers and Gold Cross dispatch operate on two different systems.
“We can’t put callers on hold,” Dunlap said. “If we had to go through the Gold Cross dispatcher for every ambulance needed, we would have to put the caller on hold and then yell across the room.”
Gold Cross Chief Operating Officer Steven Vincent agrees that having Gold Cross employees manning the 911 center would be a bad idea.
“Several years ago, there were discussions of Gold Cross dispatching city ambulances as well as our own, and so that might have made sense, but that arrangement never happened,” Vincent said.
The committee also discussed Gold Cross response times and estimated times of arrival.
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Dunlap explained that because the two services operate on two different systems, Gold Cross tracks it’s own response times, and the city had no way of collecting the data.
“There are third party middleware software programs available,” Dunlap said and explained that even that kind of software would not provide the data on ambulance response times.
District 4 Commissioner Sammie Sias suggested using some form of enhanced GPS to track response times. Dunlap said that the vehicles already have GPS, but it only works in real time and is not there to collect response time data.
Chairman Hasan then directed City Administrator Odie Donald to look into the cost of the middleware software.
Augusta Interim Fire Chief Shaw Williams told the committee that response times were not necessarily an issue. Instead, the real issue is having more ambulances on the streets to be ready when needed.
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“All of that data becomes less important when we have enough units on the road,” Williams said. “Having wheels on the road is what we need.”
No representatives of Gold Cross attended the committee meeting.
10th District Commissioner John Clarke inquired why no one from Gold Cross was present, and Hasan and Sias bluntly told him that Gold Cross was not invited.
Scott Hudson is the Managing Editor of The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com.
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