By Jeff Shields
The Philadelphia Inquirer
PHILADELPHIA — Additional resources and manpower added this year have already helped the city reduce its emergency medical response time by more than a minute per call, Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers said yesterday.
Ayers’ figures cover only March — the first month in which the number of medic units went from 45 to 50 — and both the firefighters union and Controller’s Office said the numbers bear more scrutiny. Weather, for example, can affect response times from month to month.
Ayers most powerful statistic is the decrease in average response time from 9 minutes and 55 seconds in March 2007 to 8 minutes and 42 seconds in March 2008.
But average response times are not the true measure of success. The department has set a goal based on a national standard of responding to 90 percent of calls under 9 minutes.
According to Ayers, the department is now meeting this goal over 82 percent of the time. This is a marked improvement over 2006, when the department met this standard less than 60 percent of the time and drew a scathing audit from the Controller’s Office and a call for hearings from City Councilwoman Joan Krajewski. Mayor Nutter responded by allocating $3.8 million to 40 new EMS medics and paying overtime for existing medics.
Even that statistic is subject to debate. The city measures its response time from the time that paramedics are dispatched — the Controller and union say the national standard is measured from the time of a call.
Ayers said he understands that the statistics can’t paint a complete picture at this point. But, he said, “It means that there was some relief in the system with the five units put in.”
Copyright 2008 Philadelphia Inquirer