Why Cities Should Consider Medic Engines instead of rescue Ambulances Outline
- You are the fire chief. The city manager, a former fire chief has asked for a staff report and PowerPoint presentation on whether the city should consider going to medic engines and eliminating the rescue ambulances. The previous city he worked in used a third party service to staff BLS ambulances services through a private company, saving thousands of dollars and eliminating worker compensation claims by 75%, and reducing overtime by 30 %. Explain the advantages/disadvantages and the potential cost saving if any or cost increases in your report/presentation.
Introduction
- The fire menace in cities
- The city served
- Overview data on past incidences
- Overview data on fire department staffing and operational cost
- The need for functional fire departments
- Fire fighters
- Medic engines
- Rescue ambulances
Collaborations
- Emergence of ‘Blue-Light Collaboration’
- Collaborations in the contemporary city disaster response
- Community involvement
- Importance of blue light collaborations
- Incorporating police officers into fire stations
- Cross-service trainings for firefighters
- Emergency trainings prevents overlapping roles during disasters
- Provision of life-saving during disasters
- Effectiveness of Collaborations
- Stakeholder involvements
- Outsourcing and cost reduction
Advantages of Medic Engines
- Utilizing fire station software for gathering responses from fire departments, health departments, and incident scenes
- Shorter time for training personnel e.g paramedics
- Lower training costs for the paramedics
- Quicker response compared to ambulances
- Increase in on-duty shifts
- Better service delivery to a larger geographical location
- The size of the city (population and area size)
Disadvantages of Medic Engines
- Startup costs may be higher in the absence of substantial savings
- Recurring costs (staff benefits and equipment) may rise up to $700,000 annually
Potential Cost of Medic Engines
- Initial start-up costs
- A medic engine costs around $500,000 while an ambulance goes for around $ 70,000
- Fuel consumption rounding to about 2-5 miles per gallon of diesel fuel
- Preventative and maintenance cost approximating to $4500 per annum
- Paramedic training course cost of $1,200 per trainee
Cost Cutting
- Reduction in Overall staffing
- Peak demand staffing
- Rightsizing of the staff and population coverage
- Progressive Communication centers
- Utilizing response data in planning
- Reduces hiring costs for paramedics by about $ 38,702 per annum per ambulance
- Better resource allocation and utilization
