Response Time In the world of EMS, response time is everything. Response time is the time between somebody making a 911 call and till the ambulance arrives giving life saving help. It could mean life or death in cases with car wrecks, strokes, or heart attacks. Tennessee’s own Fayette county is one of the largest counties of the state; yet for its size it only has four full time ambulance units. Although there is not the same high population of people as other counties like Shelby county has, Fayette has a larger land mass which plays a key in response time. Counties like Shelby, Davidson and Knox all have a much higher percentage of people to lang mass when compared to Fayette, but each of these counties have hundreds of ambulances to care …show more content…
whereas a long response time could mean it being to late for intervention and treatment. The only practical way of shorting response times in Fayette county would be to add another EMS station with a fifth full time ambulance. This would give the county move life saving resources and reduce the time between the initial 911 call and final care of a hospital. Unfortunately, there are a couple of complications that arise by adding a fifth Ambulance Unit. First it a huge expense to buy a new Unit and to completely outfit it with the appropriate equipment and gear. Second, you have to find more employees and pay their salaries. Lastly you have to look at the expense of insurance on a ambulance. Basically it comes down to the money. Money is a big deal, and many people just don 't realize how much it cost to turn out and run a ambulance. Yet even with the cost of bringing in a fifth ambulance to Fayette county, citizens wellbeing and lives are more important. Many states including Tennessee, give grants for EMS companies for new ambulances and equipment. These grants provide the money, making it possible for companies to buy more units, which are then available for emergency calls.
Without doubt, getting a fifth ambulance for Fayette county will reduce response times and inadvertently save more lives. At the same time Fayette applies for a grant, it needs to start looking for employees to