1. University City has contracted with Gateway Ambulance to provide 911 Emergency Medical Service (EMS) starting August 30, 2015. Gateway will provide 2 fully staffed ambulances in University City 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. Response times are expected to be faster.
2. Third party EMS (or ambulance service) is common in St. Louis County. Christian Hospital EMS, Gateway Ambulance, and Abbott Ambulance provide (or will provide) 911 EMS to nearly a third of the county.
3. Gateway Ambulance will post two (2) Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulances in U City 24 hours/7days a week 100% dedicated to our 911 calls. This is equivalent to our current coverage.
4. Gateway ambulances will be directly dispatched from the U City Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) at 6801 Delmar utilizing P25 800MHz portable radios compatible with the new St. Louis County emergency radio system. This will allow for free communication between ambulance techs, dispatchers, on site police, the fire chief, ALS dispatched engine companies, etc.
5. Gateway ambulances will be staffed with one (1) Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) and one (1) Emergency Medical Technician – Paramedic (EMT-P). U City ambulances are staffed with two (2) EMT-Ps. Under state certification, an EMT can provide Basic Life Support (BLS) and an EMT-P can provide Advanced Life Support (ALS). Of course an EMT can assist the EMT-P as needed and will drive the ambulance. U City will continue its policy of dispatching an ALS pumper staffed with four (4) EMT-Ps when the 911 call is determined to be life threatening (trouble breathing, chest pains, unconscious, etc.). Even the police officer who often arrives first can provide CPR. U City remains dedicated to providing the highest quality care to its citizens (and visitors). When both ambulances are dispatched Gateway will immediately direct a third ambulance toward U City. And a fourth when needed and so on. Our mutual aid agreements with our neighboring cities remain unchanged
6. As a result of contracting these services, the City’s general fund budget will have a net savings of over $550,000 per year and the pension fund will save over $100,000 per year. These are needed monies that will be redirected to other pressing needs.
7. It takes about 90 seconds to get an ambulance rolling out of a fire house. U City is no different in this regard than Clayton, Richmond Heights, Olivette, and others. Gateway ambulances will roll within seconds as their office is the ambulance. In the industry this is called posting. And a posted ambulance can be strategically positioned pretty much anywhere to further minimize response time. A fire house cannot be moved. Earlier this year our Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system crunched several thousand ambulance calls and calculated the average response time to be 4 minutes and 46 seconds. On August 13th Gateway posted an ambulance at the Ruth Park Golf Course parking lot at the request of the fire chief to cover the west end of town. Gateway answered six (6) calls resulting in an average response time of 3 minutes and 7 seconds. Six (6) calls does not constitute a statistically valid sample, but hints at what our citizens can expect in significantly improved response times under EMS outsourcing.
8. No U City firefighter/paramedic will lose their job due to outsourcing. Attrition will be used to right size the fire department. Union jobs will not be lost as Gateway Ambulance is a teamster shop.
9. Gateway employees work 12 hour shifts. EMS-firefighters work 48 hour shifts. The shorter shifts should result in fewer injuries to fatigued workers and less safety compromising medical errors due to fatigue.