Powder River Examiner -

Powder River EMS, the county’s EMS services which has taken over for Jesse Ambulance Service, recently acquired an SUV that will be used for a variety of services including Community Integrated Healthcare and EMS calls. We sat down with EMS Director Shane Copps to discuss the new vehicle, as well as some data compiled from July ambulance calls.

The new ride is a 2020 Ford Explorer, purchased through the help of the School Community Development Council. The SCDC provided a loan to cover the cost of the vehicle, and will be repaid via federal grant funds. Copps explained that in order to secure the federal dollars the vehicle had to be purchased and then reimbursed later, and the generous help from the SCDC made the purchase possible.

Shane said that the Explorer will fill a variety of roles – the Community Integrated Healthcare role, or CIH, consists of EMS personnel going out into the community to conduct wellness checks and provide basic medical needs for those community members who are not able to fully care for themselves, and having a vehicle other than the ambulance to conduct these checks will be a big help. The SUV is also cheaper to run than the ambulance, as well as saving wear and tear on the ambulance.

The second role of the Explorer will be that of a “chase rig” for the ambulance. The all wheel drive capability will be able to drive down muddy or icy roads better than the 2wd ambulance, making it easier to get to and treat patients out in the boonies. The vehicle will be stocked with emergency gear, and will have the ability to hold a backboard to carry a patient, for short hauls in those cases where the ambulance cannot reach patients.

Additionally, an on call EMS provider will be able to park the Explorer at their house, and thus will be able to respond more quickly to incidents. Copps explained: “Our current response time averages 5.5 minutes from when the call goes out to when we are in the ambulance and responding. With this vehicle, we will likely be able to drop that response time down to 2 or 3 minutes.” What this will look like in practice is one EMS provider will respond to a call in the SUV, likely arriving on scene earlier than the ambulance, assessing the patient, administering care, and potentially prepping the patient for transport. Meanwhile a second provider (ambulance calls require two providers) will head to the scene in the ambulance to provide additional care and patient transport. The hope is that the quicker response time will help to ensure better outcomes in critical cases, potentially saving lives.

The sage green colored Explorer is earning its keep, as it went out on a call within two hours of delivery, and has been out on five responses within its first week.

With the county now in charge of ambulance services, we have a bit more data available on the number and nature of calls provided by the service. EMS is unique in that Federal HIPAA regulations limit the possibility of describing the full nature of calls, in comparison to something like a fire department where the nature of their mission is readily evident by the flames and smoke.

The previously mentioned 5.5 minute response time during the month of July was spread over 20 separate calls, with 7 responders working those calls in total. 13 IVs were administered over those 20 runs.

During that first month of service, Powder River EMS averaged 89 miles one way per ambulance run, and also averaged four hours of time per run. The longest run during that period was 265 miles round trip.