By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com
A few townships in Crawford County were given new tier times at the Central Joint Ambulance District meeting Wednesday night.
In his Oversight Committee report Ron Miller noted that in the contract the townships of Jefferson, Jackson, Vernon, and Sandusky were part of Tier I with a satellite station. Miller explained that without the extra station getting to these townships would be impossible to make it in the Tier I time of 5 minutes and 59 seconds. Miller then suggested that those four townships be placed in Tier II, which has a response time of 9 minutes and 59 seconds. The Ambulance District board approved and made the move official.
Miller noted that under the new tier times Life Support personnel had made the run times in time on 97 percent of their runs.
CJAD President Gene Sipe reported that he had met with the county 9-1-1 dispatchers, Sheriff Scott Kent, and Life Support in order to figure out some of the issues with the 9-1-1 drop issues that Life Support has been having. Sipe explained that one of Life Support’s dispatch radios was out of order.
Sipe also explained that the average 9-1-1 call time between the dispatch and ambulance took 30 to 90 seconds in order to clarify the address of the call.
In Life Support COO Jesse Sipes’ report to the CJAD he noted that they had received 207 total 9-1-1 calls with 35 refusals, seven assists, 11 cancelled calls, and 16 fire standbys. The board approved all but one variance in Sipes’ report.
In Treasurer Milton Underwood’s report, he said the current balance for the month was $2,098.20 after deposits and bills.