| 10/5/2021 |
Clark County Board of Commissioners
| Discussed as Recommended
Agenda note: DOCUMENT(S): Submitted
1. Ambulance Response Areas (3 pages) submitted by staff
2. Ambulance Franchises Call Volume and On Time Performance (4 pages) Submitted by staff
Following introduction of the item, Mike Harwell, Assistant Manager of Business License, provided a brief overview of the ambulance franchise agreements for American Medical Response (AMR), Medic West, and Community Ambulance; advised that each company covered two zones within the county; calls were ranked by priority; each priority had an assigned response time; and penalties were assessed each month if the companies did not meet the assigned response time in each zone, as noted in the franchise agreements.
Mr. Harwell provided information on the call response times and on-time performance of each company from August 2020 through July 2021; and advised that if a company missed the assigned response time four times or more within a 12-month period, the Board could take additional action including, but not limited to, additional fines, community service, or redistribution of zones.
Deputy Fire Chief Jenn Wyatt advised of meeting every month with each to discuss any issues or challenges; spoke regarding ways the companies have tried to make the 90% compliance including incentives and increased staffing; and spoke of the strain put on the fire department when the ambulance companies could not answer calls or were late to calls.
Responding to a question from Commissioner Naft, Mr. Harwell advised that, per 13.1.5 of the franchise agreement, the County had billed the ambulance companies for the penalty fees; and advised of additional penalty fees based on how late the company would arrive at a call.
In response to a question from Commissioner Kirkpatrick and Commissioner Jones, Deputy Chief Wyatt advised that during the monthly meetings, staffing seemed to be an issue; the fire department would hire several paramedics from the three companies; and spoke regarding the rescue services available and the lack of fire stations in the southwest portion of the valley.
Michael Johnson, Regional Director for AMR Medic West advised of a staffing crunch and issues with recruitment including mandatory vaccinations; new hires require a minimum of a year to complete training and increased the number of various training offerings for paramedics.
In response to questions from Commissioner Naft and Commissioner Gibson, Mr. Johnson advised of short-term fixes to address staffing, public safety, and response times; compliance and response times were public records; discussed available equipment for newly hired staff, and the possible re-zoning of the assigned boundary area.
Brian Rogers, Chief Operating Office of Community Ambulance, explained unit hour utilization; could scale-up if needed should boundaries be reassigned as noted in 13.1.6 of the franchise agreement; and advised that staffing was not an issue.
Commissioner Naft, in providing direction to staff, advised of instructing Business License and Deputy Chief Wyatt to come back before the Board after working with the franchise holders on recommendations for an amendment to the franchise agreement which would specifically offer relief to the service areas; and does not want to see any of the companies fall below the benchmark 90% response.
Commissioner Gibson advised that the Board needed to assess what the current capability was to take on additional work or to increase response area.
Responding to a question from Commissioner Kirkpatrick, Ms. King advised that if the recommendation was to shift some of the zones, an assessment of the ambulance companies would have to be made to assure that additional equipment, if needed, could be brought in in a timely manner to meet the needs of residents in a newly zoned area. | |
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