Photo by Eric P.
Citing data that show when medical emergencies most often occur, D.C. Fire Chief Kenneth B. Ellerbe this week floated a plan to cut back on overnight ambulance services. Under Ellerbe’s plan, Fire and Emergency Medical Services would keep its advanced life-support vehicles docked between 1 and 7 a.m., when ambulance requests are at their lowest.
Instead of the full emergency fleet, during those hours D.C. would offer only its 25 standard ambulances and paramedics attached to fire companies, Ellerbe said yesterday. But the way Ellerbe communicated his proposal has taken some fire, with some complaining that it seemed like FEMS is all but abandoning the overnight shift. “We’re gambling between 1 and 7 a.m.,” Ed Smith, the president of the local firefighters’ union, told the Post.
But Ellerbe’s plan has the support of D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, who agrees with the fire chief’s numbers, if not his messaging skills. “The proposal has merit,” Mendelson said at a news conference today. “At night when demand is lowest, you want to have the least.”
Still, Mendelson said FEMS had a “communication problem” in delivering news of the plan to cut back on overnight ambulance service. “There ought to have been more of a conversation with stakeholders,” he said, mentioning the unions that represent firefighters and paramedics, as well as the council itself, which will have to sign off on the plan.
At a press conference with Mayor Vince Gray today, Ellerbe clarified that the department had done a year-long analysis of deployment patterns before formulating the new proposal. Under his plan, four waves of five medic units—which deal with the most serious emergencies—would be deployed on 12-hour shifts starting at 7 a.m. and ending at 1 a.m., the period that the department receives the majority of its calls. From 1 to 7 a.m., emergency response calls would be fielded by ambulances and fire trucks.
“Based on recent data and historical experience, we plan to increase our EMS coverage during what we have found to be our busiest periods, where the demands for our services have been greatest. During the off-peak periods, we will have more than appropriate coverage with our paramedics and ambulances,” he said.
Reducing the number of total shifts will lower the amount of overtime Ellerbee’s department has to pay out, but FEMS currently has a few hundred empty job positions, including many in paramedic and ambulance services. Even when its workforce is at its peak, D.C. only has a fleet of 40 ambulances and advanced life-support vehicles serving a city of 618,000.
