Medical call volumes at the Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District remained high in 2001.
The fire department responded to 1,652 calls, about 60 less than 2000 but still nearly 200 more than the year before. The department had been running between 1,400 and 1,500 calls in the last half of the 1990s.
Fire calls were up slightly to 256 in 2001.
The fire department had included a new paramedic in its 2001-02 budget to help cope with the higher call volume, but the position never materialized.
“Because of all the unknowns in our budget for this first year, it didn’t make sense to hire someone and not be able to keep them,” Fire Chief Mike Beaver said. Waiting until a full budget year was under the new district’s belt was a better idea.
The district is now in the process of putting together a new budget, and that position is proposed again this year.
Three paramedics per shift would be ideal, Chief Beaver said, and the district’s board of director’s is behind that goal.
Right now, the district staffs one and a half ambulances with two paramedics and an intern each 24-hour shift. One paramedic and the intern respond on an ambulance call if the second paramedic is not needed. The second paramedic staffs a second ambulance with the district calling another medic, intern or volunteer in. Additional calls require calling back off-duty paramedics. When no further medics are available locally, the district calls on its mutual aid agreement with Lebanon Fire District, which stages an ambulance at Santiam Terrace or responds into Sweet Home as needed.
The district has six paramedics on three shifts and six interns. Chief Beaver also is a certified paramedic.
“It’s very common for us to have two units out at the same time,” Chief Beaver said. There have been several instances when the district has had three ambulances in January. Four ambulance calls at a time are still fairly rare.
On an accident right after Thanksgiving, the district had all four of its ambulances out. Lebanon went on standby for Sweet Home.
“That particular night, they were busy too, but they had a medic unit available,” Chief Beaver said.
On New Year’s Eve, the first ambulance was on a call. The second paramedic for the shift was on vacation, and dispatch had a hard time lining up a second crew when a second call came in. Lebanon responded into Sweet Home for that one.
Fortunately, it was not an emergency situation, Chief Beaver said. A doctor had requested the patient be transported. The call time was the driving time from Lebanon.
“It happens,” Chief Beaver said. “We have responded with lights and sirens from here into Lebanon.”
That happens more as call volumes increase, Chief Beaver said. While call volumes are increasing, funding levels are dropping. Lebanon Fire District last year cut two from each shift when a local-option levy failed to pass.
The situation is now “the nature of the business,” Chief Beaver said. All of the agencies in the Valley are relying on mutual aid agreements to cover each other.
“Nobody has more equipment or people, but call volumes are going up,” Chief Beaver said.
When Chief Beaver started with the Sweet Home Fire Department in the late 1980s, A 48-hour shift could go by and the paramedic on duty would never see another person. Now, paramedics rarely sleep through the night.
To cover an increasing number of calls at night, the district is just adding an on-call policy this week.
The new policy will place each of the six paramedics on call from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. five nights a month. They will be paid for one hour of straight time for being on call. If they are called in, then they are paid overtime for the hours they work.
Chief Beaver estimates a cost of $2,600 through the end of the fiscal year, June 30, to have the paramedics on
call. If a medic is on vacation or sick, the new policy will guarantee two medics on at night. When two ambulances are out on an average night, a medic would be available for a third ambulance.
January is in keeping with call volumes over the last two years. The district had 144 medical calls in January. Over 12 months at that rate, the district would have 1,728 calls for the year. The district had 19 fire responses in January.
On Jan. 19, the district responded to 12 medical calls. Medical calls average about two hours, including response time, evaluation of the patient, transportation, completing the patient report at the hospital and driving back. The patient report is required at the hospital before the paramedic leaves.
Whether the district can reach its goal of three paramedics per shift, “depends strictly on money,” Chief Beaver said. “From day one (since the new district was proposed), that’s been our goal, to add one per shift (each of the first three years). That’s obviously not going to happen, but hopefully, we can get in a cycle, depending on money, that we can do that.
“We’re covering our call volumes with the personnel we have,” Chief Beaver said. Medics from other departments serve as volunteers when they are off duty, “but the paid medics aren’t getting their days off because we rely on them to call back … and they’re getting tired.”
It’s not a problem unique to Sweet Home, Chief Beaver said, and “we’re fortunate to have four advanced life support units here and a dedicated staff willing to come in on their days off to cover the calls.”