June 5th 2024
The Clark County Health Department is aware of the concerns regarding the EMS coverage of Clark County. New Chapel EMS has recently experienced a loss of workforce that has created challenges
meeting the requirements for adequate coverage required by the Clark County public safety plan. We have instituted several initiatives both to mitigate the strain on the system by New Chapel’s current
shortage and protect the citizens of our county if the issues should worsen. These initiatives include maximizing the resources available to community partners that either currently assist in EMS response or have the ability to flex up resources to provide EMS services. Additionally, we are adjusting the public safety plan to allow alternative providers to provide service for transfers and non-urgent transports, as well as exploring their ability to provide back-up and/or augment 911 response capacity.
We also feel that it is imperative that our citizens have transparency regarding the oversight of EMS operations in the county. We perform frequent monitoring regarding the number of units operating
in the county. In additional, we monitor the response times to every municipality in the county and will post those on the Health Department website for public consumption. It is important to note that large
scale response times can be an imperfect indicator of an EMS system’s capability, we also have a ‘jotform’ process that allows real time reporting and feedback of any issues that occur on a specific run. This allows more accurate monitoring and factors in the quality of care that basic response times do not. We will also share the number of jot forms on our website (detailed information will not be available due to patient privacy).
I do think it’s important that our citizens are aware that there has been no interruption in operations. In the time period since June 1st, there has been one prolonged response time (20 minutes) reported, and no jot form reports. We will continue to monitor vigilantly and work on the initiatives outlined above to ensure that remains the case. The Clark County EMS Board has been formalized to provide recommendations both for the short-term management of the current situation and long term planning for service provision in Clark County after the current contract has ended in 2025. We encourage your input into this process as we look forward to building an EMS system that provides the highest level of care for our citizens.
Sincerely,
Dr. Eric Yazel
Clark County Health Officer
