Feb. 9—The county's growing population has largely been skewed toward early retirees, which has contributed to a growing number of emergency medical services calls.
Ambulance calls have increased 50% over the past decade — from 9,800 calls in 2013 to 14,200 last year. Travis Donaldson, director of the Haywood County Emergency Services, shared the statistics on the rising calls and demand for medical services at the Haywood County commissioners meeting this week.
Not all calls result in a need for ambulance transport, however. Some call 911 out of precaution and change their minds, or paramedics were able to handle the situation on the scene, Donaldson said. Actual transports were 7,700 in 2013 and 10,100 — which is still nearly a 50% increase in transports.
"The Haywood County population is aging as a whole, even if you subtract the ones retiring here," Donaldson said. "We see more houses, developments going up and there are just more people here."
He also referenced the length of time ambulances have to wait at hospitals before they can offload patients and be ready for the next call. Those times are especially difficult at Mission in Asheville, he said.
A large concern is response time.
"If we get there in less than 8 minutes, the chances of survival is two-and-a-half times greater," Donaldson said of cardiac arrest cases. In Haywood, the average is 8.31 minutes from the time a call center came into 911 until an ambulance arrived.
To improve ambulance availability, Donaldson proposed adding two new basic life support vehicles to the county's fleet and hiring five full-time emergency medical technicians. The additional vehicles and staff would cost $757,000 the first year, due to bringing the two fully equipped vehicles online.
The basic life support vehicles can handle many medical calls, but have fewer capabilities than a full-fledged ambulance, known as advanced live support vehicles. The new units would be used primarily for nonemergency medical calls and would be staffed by emergency medical technicians as opposed to paramedics. This would free up the county's paramedics to operate at the level they've trained to handle, while providing a career path for those entering the field, Donaldson said.
County commissioners unanimously approved the proposal, with the $757,000 price tag for the first year coming out of the county's fund balance.
Meanwhile, a new EMS substation is being built along outer Russ Avenue, which will be jumping off point for calls in the Lake Junaluska and Jonathan Creek area. The county purchased a 0.8-acre site for the base on the corner of Russ Avenue and Mauney Cove Road.