After taking over Medical Services Inc.
EMS improves emergency service
By MARIAN GREEN
OtMlMnM
Six months ago Medical Services Inc went bank
rupt, and the Eugene and Springfield fire departments
have been providing ambulance and paramedic ser
vices ever since
In the past half-year, the two departments have
shown they can not only handle the service but can
also improve it
Virgil Nave Springfield fire chief says the fire
departments service exceeds emergency service
levels provided under MSI
The cities emergency service, now called Emer
gency Medical Services has cut the average accident
response time in half — from eight minutes to a little less
than four minutes — says Dick Straw a former MSI
employee Straw now works as emergency training
instructor for the Eugene fire department
The average cost for an emergency call has also
dropped $100 since EMS started
Jthough the cities provide emergency service it's
not tax-supported says Tim Birr a Eugene fire
fighter who also serves as the department s public
relations officer
The size of emergency bills varies but an average
bill is $203 Straw says A cardiac arrest costs a lot
more than a broken ankle
Birr says a contingency plan drawn up when MSI s
future began to look shaky helped ease the transition
The plan outlined procedures for maintaining service
levels and took measures to obtain paramedics and
equipment should MSI bow out of the emergency
service business
Birr says all firefighters are trained in basic life
support methods — whether the department provides
emergency service or not — because fire vehicles are
often the first to arrive at accident scenes
he Eugene department arrived at accident
scenes before MSI vehicles on about one-third of all
emergency calls, Birr says
The average fireman does as much CPR (Cardio
Pulmonary Resuscitation) as hydrant hook-ups he
says
The cities service is in some ways a literal contin
uation of the MSI service
About a dozen former MSI employees now work for
the Eugene fire department and another seven work for
Springfield s fire department
Eugene s fire department has three fully-equipped
emergency vehicles and the Springfield department
has two both of which MSI previously owned
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Photo by David Corey
Dick Straw, a former Medical Services Inc. employee, now works for the Eugene Fire Department as an
emergency training instructor
The number of paramedics and emergency vehi
cles has been unaffected by the change in man
agement, Birr says
aramedics benefit from cross-training because
their profession has a high burnout rate, Birr says
This way they have somewhere to go," he says
Straw says being employed by the city agrees with
him and most former MSI employees
Fewer hours, increased benefits and more stability
make the city a better employer. Straw says
Guys know they have a future here, " he says
Straw says that wasn't true at MSI
When your company goes into bankruptcy court
(like MSI did), you don't know what's going to happen,"
he says
irr says the department has had "no complaints
as far as quality." and two significant sectors, the
county rural fire departments and the medical com
munity. have expressed confidence in the service
When the Eugene dispatch office, which now
handles all calls for the approximately 50 Lane County
fire departments, gets an emergency call from a rural
area, it immediately calls the closest rural department,
which can then provide interim life support until an
emergency medical vehicle arrives, he says
Birr says doctors, especially those in the Sacred
Heart emergency room, have been working closely with
the department and have held monthly meetings with
the paramedics
Straw says Sacred Heart has given the fire depart
ment's paramedics a “sign of physician confidence" by
making two additional drugs available for the treatment
of accident victims
The fire department now gets its medications from
Sacred Heart to ensure fresh, standardized medication
for accident victims who become hospitalized
Despite the easy transition, Birr notes one change
"You tend to get up in the middle of the night a lot
more "
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