LIHU‘E — Collaboration between the Kaua‘i Fire Department and American Medical Response in emergency 911 calls is sufficiently efficient that it does not warrant further evaluation, the Cost Control Commission determined Monday. “We’re looking everywhere we can to find efficiency,
LIHU‘E — Collaboration between the Kaua‘i Fire Department and American Medical Response in emergency 911 calls is sufficiently efficient that it does not warrant further evaluation, the Cost Control Commission determined Monday.
“We’re looking everywhere we can to find efficiency, but you guys are doing a fantastic job,” Commission Chair Randy Finlay told Fire Chief Robert Westerman, AMR Kaua‘i Manager Zach Octavio and Kaua‘i Police Acting Assistant Chief Alejandre Quibilan.
“There is no substantial cost savings, so after a cost-benefit analysis, we’ll look elsewhere for savings,” Finlay said in an interview with The Garden Island after the commission concluded its regular monthly meeting. “We’re not going to take it any further.”
The discussion focused on the overlap between KFD and AMR when a medical emergency call comes through the Dispatch Center, which serves both entities as well as KPD. Policy currently dictates that firefighters join medics on every medical response, even if fire is not reported.
In his testimony to the commission, Westerman talked about a “tiered response” and a “continuum of care,” noting that KFD can occasionally arrive at an emergency before medics because the ambulance is routinely forced to head to the hospital — not necessarily the closest one — while firefighters head straight back to the station to prepare for the next emergency.
In those scenarios, firefighters provide a “basic level of service” such as performing CPR or stopping bleeding until medics arrive and provide an “advanced level of service,” Westerman said.
In other scenarios, medics that arrive first might signal the KFD with a “Code 10-22,” essentially canceling the call and sending the firefighters back to the station. In other cases, KFD and AMR, a private company on a four-year contract with the Hawai‘i Department of Human Services, leave and arrive simultaneously, but Westerman said there is “not a duplication.”
“What do we want to provide to our citizens, and what is the cost?” Westerman asked.
Octavio said it is easier for dispatchers dealing with frantic family members calling 911 to simply send both the KFD and AMR rather than having to determine if both agencies are in fact necessary.
“It sounds like after talking to these guys that the cost is the same to the county regardless of the number of calls,” Finlay told his fellow commissioners after Westerman, Octavio and Quibilan left. “Far be it from us to impose … on the experts.”
Asked after the meeting if there were truly no costs associated with sending KFD engines on calls on which they were not needed, Finlay said the monetary costs of gasoline and opening and closing the station’s garage doors were small, but acknowledged that the real cost is the reduced level of response if another emergency arises while firefighters are assisting AMR.
There are no plans to discuss the costs further, Finlay said.
• Michael Levine, assistant news editor, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or mlevine@kauaipubco.com
