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EMS Task Force Recommendations
Recommendation 4: Enhance responsiveness and crew readiness by revising deployment and staffing procedures.
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Action Item |
Progress |
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a |
The Mayor shall establish a goal of providing ALS response times according to the National Fire Protection Association Standard 1710, 100% of the time, as well as a goal of providing transport responses within 13 minutes, 100% of the time. The Department shall conduct quality improvement review of those calls where the goal is not achieved. No later than March 20, 2008, and every six months thereafter, the Mayor shall certify that the District of Columbia has met this goal, or announce what steps are being taken to achieve this goal. |
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b |
The Mayor and Chief shall work together to come with a recommendation to the Council to implement shorter shifts for all employees and other recommendations to ensure the goal of having alert and awake employees who can provide competent patient care. |
As a component of the Transport Unit Staffing Plan developed with Local 36, IAFF, firefighters detailed to four-month rotations on transport units are offered the option of choosing to work a 12-hour, rather than 24-hour shift. |
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c |
The Chief shall establish, no later than March 31, 2008, and as available staff allows, a practice for assignment to transport duty in which employees are permanently assigned to ambulance service for periods of not less than 90 days, rather than intermittently with fire apparatus duty. |
The Department engaged in a labor-management partnership with the affected bargaining unit to implement this recommendation. The bargaining unit completed a referendum of their members on March 21, 2008 and transmitted a staffing plan proposal to the Department. Due to the complexity of the issue, final implementation of the new staffing plan* did not take place until July 6, 2008, in order to accommodate final negotiations with the representatives of the bargaining unit. |
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d |
The Chief shall report, no later than March 31, 2008, on procedures for peak load staffing of transport units, that enable an adequate number of units to meet response time targets. The Chief shall also establish by the same date a procedure for dynamic deployment of units to provide coverage when any particular area of the District experiences a shortage of available units. |
To support dynamic deployment, FEMS and the DC Office of Unified Communications have implemented specialized software called LiveMoveUpModule. This software tracks EMS activity in real-time and makes recommendations to balance EMS coverage citywide and ensure that all resources are optimally deployed. The Department has also completed several peak load staffing analyses, but at the request of both bargaining units as well as the employee focus group formed under Recommendation 2 (d), will first measure the impact of the new staffing and deployment plan (Recommendation 4 [c]) prior to consideration of implementing peak load staffing. The Department is currently significantly exceeding its overall EMS response time targets for transport units, and is within half a percentage point of exceeding its ALS response time performance target. |
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e |
The Chief shall develop and implement a series of service delivery alternatives that provide efficient, rapid response with a variety of apparatus and personnel. |
The Street Calls Program began on March 27, 2008: an innovative mobile outreach initiative designed to provide alternative services to high-volume individual 911 system users. The Street Calls Program pairs FEMS paramedics with social workers and clinicians from other DC Government agencies in a mobile response vehicle to perform pro-active prevention, intervention, and response to at-risk individuals (including the homeless, mentally ill, and chronic public inebriates). These interventions also reduce the demand on other emergency units, increasing their availability for other responses.
DC Fire & EMS remains a national leader in the use of alternative vehicles to manage EMS needs during special events and other planned and unplanned events of high crowd density. The Department has an EMS Bike Team with specialized training and advanced life support capabilities, and the Special Operations Division utilizes specially modified utility vehicles such as the Gator™ and the ASAP/Polaris ATV mini-ambulance to safely deliver EMS care and evacuate patients from areas of limited access. |
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