When the rig DOESN'T respond.

[Jon]

MedicAngel brought the topic up in another thread...If we are going to have this discussion... let us have it in a seperate thread.

Originally Posted by MedicAngel

Sorry that I have a job and also am a volunteer...

Seriously, I would think that if the volunteer station didn't respond after the 1st set of tones, a second set would be dropped as another station would be added to the call. Is that done in your area?

OK.. what happens in YOUR area when a rig isn't staffed and misses a call?

Can a rig be dispatched if it isn't fully staffed?

What is the dispatch procedure? How many minutes, how many pages?

What happens when the service misses a call? Does everything start over when they are dispatched for another call 30 minutes later?

How is next due determined? Does the clock start over for them?


Lets not argue paid vs. vollie.... just discuss how it works in your town.

[motownems]

I am an attendant/assistant for a vollie ambulance service in the town where I go to college. It is a very rural area (think one stop light town).

Anyways we have mutual support agreements with the surrounding ambulances services. As I understand it, if no one acknowledges Control after the fourth page out, Control will then page out one of the agencies we have mutual support agreements with. That being said I am not aware of the last time this has actually happened.

As far as staffing goes; EMT and driver minimum… however depending on were the EMT/Medic is coming from they might link up with the rig on scene.

[Jon]

4th page out? How many minutes total?

[JAM-EMT]

Here, when shifts aren't filled we just file as OOS and the closest in service squad takes over for that time.

[motownems]

Jon, I cannot speak as to how long that would be in terms of minutes, as I have never been around (no pun intended) when it has happened. I just remember one particular slow evening I was flipping through the SOP/SOG and read something about it.

[Jon]

In the county I volunteer in:

For a BLS rig:
Page at 0 minutes
2nd Page at 4 minutes
Station polled over radio for "Response Check" x2 at 6 minutes
Next Due company dispatched at approx. 7 minutes, and initial company is on a 4 hour "zero response" timer... if they get another call in that 4 hour window, the next due company is co-dispatched with them.

For ALS, it is a little different. I'm not sure if they have a shorter time window... but if they fail to respond, they are OOS and their ALS Coordinator gets called.


The County I work in is similar... I think they might have a 3+3+3 timeframe for 9 minutes total.


Another local county requires that ambulances only be statused as in service if they have a crew for them. So you come on shift at 7a, call County, tell them you'll be in ambulance XYZ-2 until 1900 with Paramedic ______. At 1900... your truck is off the county's radar.

[W1IM]

I am on a volley squad in an even more rural town than motownems (think no traffic lights and 26 people per square mile).

We get 3X pages about a minute apart and then another squad is toned. EMTs all carry radios when they consider themselves on duty (when they are in town and haven't had anything to drink). When paged, those who decide to respond will radio directly to dispatch to let them know who is coming. When at least 2 EMT's have radioed in, then another squad will not be toned out and the repeat tones for us will stop.

We typically get 2 EMT's in the ambulance and a First Reponder to drive. We are trying to get a waiver to allow transport with one EMT and a First Responder. Depending on the situation, the ambulance will sometimes meet the EMT's between the station and the scene or even on scene.

Once we had a call for a 1 month old having seisures. EMT's responded that they were 15min away from the station, so the fire chief had the one First Responder who was available take the ambulance to the scene and do what he could for the infant. EMT's arrived and took over. Mutual aid ambulance arrived shortly after that and the pt was transported.

[BossyCow]

Originally Posted by motownems

I am an attendant/assistant for a vollie ambulance service in the town where I go to college. It is a very rural area (think one stop light town).

Wow! You guys have a stop light????

In our service, There's a page and one minute later, if no response a second page. We have had calls when there wasn't an EMS volunteer available and the responding ff called for mutual aid from the closest responding agency. We have yet to have no one respond on a call but with the changing demographic of our area, I'm sure it will happen.

If no response is heard from our agency after a second tone out, dispatch then tones out the nearest adjacent district to ours.

[wwrescueEMT]

At the volunteer department i'm on, it happens quite a bit (though not as often as it used to) where we have one hell of a time getting the truck out. Our first rig out has to have an IV tech on it. While I was a basic, it would often occur that I was the only one down at the station paging and re-paging for an IV-tech.
In the city, we are not supposed to roll with one person unless we know that someone else is going to the scene. When the call is out of the city, you don't leave the city without an IV Tech in your rig and a full crew (at least 2 EMTs and maybe a firefighter driver).
We go up to three pages with approximately 5 minutes between pages and when the time comes that it's up to about the time when the fourth page would be, we page out for mutual aid.
If there's a call half an hour later, we go through the same process.
Then, of course when you get the third call and it's a code or car accident (after the first two were granny-go-booms or something to that effect) you get every EMT in the city there.....

...Thank goodness our cops are all first responders...it's saved our butts on more than one occassion.

[ILemt]

In my area this is the protocol:
* note: in my area responding to scene in POV is forbidden, crew must board ambulance at station first.

1st Page by county dispatch
(If crew hasn't announced "en route to station" or "Ambulance X en route to call") then...
Second Page at 4 Minutes
If no traffic has been received by county dispatch by the 8 minutes mark, then a rig from the nearest town is dispatched, the first unit is marked OOS and the coordinator is called.

Now... (here is the part that burns me and proves ill for patient care)
Lets say that a one-rig service is already on a call and dispatch has a second 911 call... Protocol says that dispatch must still page them for 8 minutes before dispatching a unit from a nearby town (knowing full well that the original crew is unable to respond)

This also applies if a service has more then one rig but they are all tied up.
Dispatch will page for 8 minutes before turning the call over to a free unit.