Emergency Medical Services first day goes off without a hitch
BY PRU SOWERS
KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER
Eddie Perez was particularly relieved when April 2nd rolled around.
Key West’s Division Chief for Emergency Medical Services spent a nervous April 1st watching as the city’s fire department officially took over providing all emergency medical services, including ambulance transportation. Starting at 7 am on April Fool’s Day, no joke, all 911 emergency medical calls were routed to the Key West Fire Department and not CARE Ambulance Services, the private contractor that has provided ambulance and medical services to the city for the past four years.
Perez and his team have spent the past nine months and an estimated $1.2 million prepping to take over. Fifteen new firefighters/emergency medical technicians were hired. Three ambulances were purchased. A new EMS medical director was hired, as was an outside billing agency to handle collections from people transported by ambulance to a medical facility.
So how did Day One go? It went was busy, Perez said, and went off without a hitch.
“It was busier than expected. We had 19 calls for service. We used our brand new [computer] tablets. All our reports are electronic now. The equipment performed as expected. The crews worked well,” he said, adding, “The hard part is done. I’m grateful for this day to be over.”
Now, the 80-plus person EMS division will focus on handling each day as it comes. There is no “normal” day, Perez said. While it is difficult to estimate how many calls the department will receive going forward, Perez predicts his team will handle about 6,000 calls a year, with 500 of them being for ambulance transport.
The transport numbers are particularly important, since that is how the department will bring in money to pay its estimated first year $2.3 million budget. The EMS Department set transport rates last month that are the highest in the Florida Keys and Broward County. For example, Key West EMS will charge $14.50 a mile for ambulance transport. CARE Ambulance had charged $12. In Broward County, the mileage rate ranges from $8 to $10 a mile. In Monroe County, the mileage rate runs from $12 a mile charged by the county fire department to $10.90 in Marathon. And other emergency medical service rates in Key West were bumped up from CARE’s rates, as well.
Key West city commissioners are considering whether to charge lower rates to local residents. City Attorney Shawn Smith said he is working on a proposal for a resident waiver that will come before commissioners for a vote shortly.
In the meantime, Perez is breathing a sigh of relief that the enormous project he was responsible for came through with flying colors on its first day.
“Now we’re just getting to normal. The excitement is wearing off. Everybody is settling in. The first day is behind us,” he said. “We take pride in helping people. That’s what we do.”
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