Seconds count for local ambulances

The scanner crackles and the call comes in that someone has been hit by a car on College Avenue near Garner Street.

"We just don't understand why they don't dispatch the closest ambulance," said Truong (senior-marketing). "It's so frustrating to hear a call at the Student Book Store and not be able to go. My conscience has a hard time dealing with that. The ultimate priority is patient care. . . . It's just a fundamentally wrong situation."

Although no patients have been hurt yet by the dispatch procedure, doctors and emergency medical technicians say the lost minutes could make the difference between life and death.

When people get in an accident or have a heart attack, many times they want the closest ambulance.

In the State College area, the closest ambulance is not always dispatched because of current practices at the Centre County Emergency Communications Center and the advice the center is given about who to dispatch, said David Lindstrom, associate director of administrative services.

This means the closest ambulance is not always dispatched. Alpha's ambulances are closer to the University Park Airport and the Penn State Scanticon Conference Center Hotel, but under the current system, the University ambulance is called first. For parts of the downtown and some parts of the residential College Heights area, the University ambulance is closer, but Alpha is the first called.

Study recommends change

To improve ambulance service in the area, the Centre Region Council of Governments (COG) asked an outside agency to conduct a study and recommend a solution in 1992.

The study recommended a unified system, meaning both the University and Alpha would lose some autonomy and instead be run by a board of various representatives.

The report noted there were "inflated self-perceptions" and "overriding concerns about control" that "will make it difficult for the principals to place the welfare of the community above their own organizational interests."

Several issues have changed since the 1992 study, including less rivalry and "turf problems." Alpha Community Ambulance Service has expanded its service and improved its response time, but the issue of not sending the closest ambulance still remains.

Because local ambulances respond quickly to emergency calls, some area ambulance providers feel the system is good enough. EMTs are usually on the scene within four minutes -- far less than the state recommendation that ambulances respond within 10 minutes of being dispatched, according to the various ambulance companies.

Consolidation would have saved money by reducing the number of services duplicated and providing faster response times, according to COG's study.

The recommendation was never implemented, primarily because of resistance from Alpha and Centre Community Hospital, said James Steff, executive director of COG.

"Basically, the way I saw this shake out was the municipalities and the University wanted a consolidated system," he said. "Alpha ambulance didn't want to go along with that. . . . I'm not optimistic that this will become a consolidated system any time soon."

Alpha wanted a different type of consolidation. It wanted to do away with the University ambulance and have a contract with the University to provide emergency service. The University rejected this idea, Steff said.

Different faces of consolidation

Dr. Margaret Spear, director of University Health Services, said she would like to see a consolidated system.

"Why have duplication? We wouldn't have a Penn State and an Alpha ambulance anymore. There would be one system for the community run by a board," she said.

But the University never painted a clear picture of what it wanted, said Robert Seitz, director of Alpha Community Ambulance Service.

"I've never heard clearly what the University wants," he said. "I'm willing to work with them and cooperate."

All he would say about a consolidated system was that if he were asked, Alpha ambulance would service University property.

"That study was before my time . . . I came in April 1994," he said. "To reduce duplication of service, Alpha community ambulance has a number of recourses that could easily provide service to the University at a higher level of service than currently provided by the University themselves. . . . If Alpha community ambulance were requested to serve the University, we would most definitely do that."

Although the report recommended a consolidated system, not everyone sees a need for change.

"There's nothing in our data that indicates there's a problem," said Mike Koon, executive director of the Seven Mountains Regional Emergency Medical Services Council. "I don't dispute the county's procedure on how they're dispatching ambulances."

He said more cooperation is needed from the University.

"I think the hospital and the Alphas have progressed pretty well with working together," Koon said. "The University ambulance has kind of been working as an independent."

From the perspective of some people at the University, Penn State has been trying to cooperate with other ambulance services, Lindstrom said.

Based on the COG report, the University was trying to create a new entity to provide ambulance service in the area, he said.

"We hoped that if such an entity could be developed, we would no longer need to continue to provide ambulance service," he said. "Public safety needs to be served by the closest available unit."