By David Fleet
Editor
Atlas Twp. — On April 24, Kevin Wilkinson, vice president clinical and education services for Medstar, delivered an annual report on the quality of ambulance service for the township.
On Sept. 1, 2021 the township board of trustees voted in a special meeting to approve a three-year agreement with Medstar 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.
For the period from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023, Medstar made 426 responses of those 216 requiring the use of red lights and sirens.
“That’s about 50 percent of the calls (with lights and sirens) and we are working to reduce that number down to about 30 percent,” said Wilkinson. “It turns out that red lights and sirens in a community (like Atlas Township) save about 43 seconds and does not change the outcome at all.”
The number one reason for ambulance requests in Atlas Township during the period is sickness and the need to go to the hospital followed by a non-specific diagnosis, breathing problems, psychiatric, welfare checks, convulsions, falls (no injuries), unconscious and traffic accidents.
“It’s not any different than other communities,” he said. “We see this nationwide, with the lack of good access to primary care physicians or the ability of getting to a doctors’ appointment.”
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.
According to Medstar’s new report, emergency response time for Atlas Township was 8:16 minutes and non-emergency response time was 11:32 minutes. The service agreements are based on a response time reliability threshold of 8 minutes, 59 seconds, which is the national standard for EMS performance agreements. The 8:59 threshold generally produces between four to six minute average response times, according to Medstar.
In comparison, in 2021, prior to Medstar arriving, Genesee County 911 provided a two-year response time study. According to the report, of 32 communities Atlas Township had the 28th slowest response time, while the Village of Goodrich was 31st.
The 2021 report indicated, 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.
County wide in 2021 the response time was 9.25. The City of Mt. Morris, Burton and Flint Township reported the fastest response times in Genesee County was—about 8.2, according to the study.
Medstar is a not-for-profit organization owned by the McLaren Healthcare Corporation, Ascension-Michigan, and the Henry Ford Health System. The agency provides 911 EMS service ​for communities in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Lapeer, Bay, and Genesee Counties, as well as critical care, air medical, and interfacility transport throughout the region.
“If there is anything we can do as a township, please let us know,” said Pat Major, township trustee. “Let us know. It sure is a lot better than what we had over the last 30 years. We are going in the right direction. We are thrilled to have you.”