Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District responded to a record 2,001 medical calls in 2006, a 3.25 percent increase over the previous year.
District firefighters also responded to 302 fire calls, about 50 more than the year before.
In 2005, the district had 1,936 medical calls and 253 fire calls.
“Fire calls are a little higher than normal,” Fire Chief Mike Beaver said. “The night of the windstorm, we had about 20, which bumped that up.”
The district broke the 1,900 mark for medical calls in 2004, when it responded to 1,948 calls. The year before, the district had 1,689 medical calls.
The district has consistently had a 200- to 300-call jump every three years over about the last 15 years. Before 2004, calls were in the 1,600 to 1,700 range each of the three previous years.
Fire call loads have remained generally static in the 250 to 300 range.
Last April, the district hired its ninth full-time paid paramedic, and each of its three shifts now have three paramedics and an emergency medical technician intern.
“There’s been days we could use twice that many,” Beaver said. On Friday, the department responded to three medical calls within a five-minute period.
“We’ve been handling the call volumes with our paid and volunteer staff at this point,” Beaver said. “We currently have no plans for additional paid staff. The people we have been very supportive and covering our call volume.”
Sweet Home is relying less on its mutual aid agreement with Lebanon, Beaver said, although he did not have the numbers available, and “this staffing level makes us much more versatile.”
The medics are available not only for medical calls, he said, but also for day-time fire responses, when volunteer response is lowest.
The district often has two ambulances out at the same time, Beaver said. Less frequently, it will have three out; but one shift ran 13 calls two weeks ago.
The department is averaging 6.6 calls per shift, which is 24 hours long, Beaver said.
“Six calls per shift doesn’t sound like much per shift;” but when an ambulance transports, it can keep an ambulance from being available for up to two hours.
The district is more frequently transporting patients to Corvallis and Albany, Beaver said. The majority of patients still go to Lebanon, but when a patient is relatively stable, the ambulance can take the patient where the cardiologists are.
If the three-year cycle and trend continues, Beaver said, he anticipates another 200- to 300-call increase in medical calls in the next year or two.