By David Fleet
Editor
Area residents needing an ambulance should be prepared to wait.
Genesee County 911 recently provided a two-year response time study. According to the report, in 2021 of 32 communities Atlas Township had the 28th slowest response time, while the Village of Goodrich is 31st. Argentine and Genesee townships along with the Village of Goodrich and the Gaines reported slower response times than Atlas Township. Only Argentine Township was slower than Goodrich.
In comparison, the City of Mt. Morris, Burton and Flint Township reported the fastest response times—about 8.2 minutes.
The report included a look at both average emergency response times for 32 communities in the county and the percentage of calls that met the 90 percent threshold, which is nine minutes or less for urban areas and 13 minutes or less for rural areas. According to the report for 2021, about 17 percent of the time an ambulance arrived in Atlas Township in less than 9 minutes and 43 percent of the time they responded in 13 minutes.

In Goodrich, 14 percent of the time the response was less than 9 minutes, while 62 percent of the time the ambulance responded in 13 minutes or less.
Countywide the number of calls increased from 31,138 in 2020 to 33,025 in 2021 and response time also increased from 7.76 to 9.25 minutes. In Atlas Township, call volume increased from 139 in 2020 to 156 in 2021, while the average response time declined from 14.11 in 2020 to 13.61 in 2021. In Goodrich, the calls also increased from 56 to 75 and response time increased from 12.70 to 14.46 minutes.
Atlas Township Supervisor Shirley Kautman-Jones said slow response times to emergencies in the township have been ongoing for many years.
“If (ambulance companies) are going to allocate resources they are going to go where there is a customer base,” said Kautman-Jones. “We (Atlas Township) may not have the strongest customer base, but if you couple us with Davison and Richfield townships, and strategically put your resource (nearby) you’re going to get a return on your investment. The strength is in the larger group that they can respond.”
Due to low call volume, Goodrich and Atlas Township depend on nearby private ambulance services from Grand Blanc and Davison in case of emergency. As a result, response times in emergency situations have been a concern for local officials for many years. An established ambulance service continues to be an issue for the township and village.
“It’s a cutthroat business,” added Kautman-Jones. “Just drive down Baldwin Road in Genesee County (near Holly Road), the ambulances are parked everywhere. Go to Flint Township, if you’re a walker at the Genesee Valley Mall and have a cardiac arrest at 7:30 a.m., you’re going to have an ambulance there in a minute to a minute and a half.”
On Sept. 1, 2021 the township board of trustees voted in a special meeting to approve a three-year agreement for preferred ambulance service for 911 calls. The township joined Richfield and Davison townships along with the City of Davison and others with similar agreements from MedStar.
The agreement, which is at no cost to the township, is needed, say township officials, to assure faster medical response times to the township. MedStar is a non-profit agency owned by Ascension-Michigan, Henry Ford Health System, and McLaren Health Care serving 911 communities throughout the state.
“We believe by using our resources better, by spacing (ambulances) out across communities that are committed to our services, we can improve response time, clinical outcomes, patient satisfaction and certainly improve the engagement of local leadership,” said Miller.