Lake-Sumter Emergency Medical Service, Inc. received Achievement Awards from the National Association of Counties (NACo) on July 18, 2010. Two outstanding programs which are integral parts of Lake-Sumter Emergency Medical Services’ cadre of services have garnered the national awards: the When to Call 911 Program and the EMS Telemetry Program.
When to Call 911 Program: Faced with an industry-wide problem of an ever increasing volume of non-emergency requests for ambulance service, Jim Judge, Executive Director of Lake-Sumter EMS took a bold new step to educate people on how to make the right call in an emergency by launching a public education program called WhenToCall911.com in August 2008.
The focus of the program is to educate people to know who, how and when to call for help in an emergency; what to do while waiting for the ambulance; and what information should be gathered to help emergency personnel when they arrive on the scene. The innovative public awareness campaign consists of billboards placed along highways; flyers and posters distributed at community events and presentations; advertising in local newspapers and magazines; and the website Whentocall911.com.
Lake-Sumter EMS estimates that about 10% of its calls are for non-emergencies, and that this campaign has cut that in half. This reduction has the effect of saving tens of thousands of dollars by lowering the cost of providing ambulance service. “The bottom line is, we’ve seen a decrease in people using ambulances as a taxi service for non medical/non-emergency calls,” says Lake-Sumter EMS Executive Director Jim Judge.”
EMS Telemetry Program: Through a coordinated effort with all four Lake and Sumter County hospitals and their physicians, Lake-Sumter EMS implemented a life-saving telemetry program in October of 2008 designed to transmit heart monitor data to attending physicians prior to hospital arrival. While 12-lead electrocardiograms (EKGs) have been a regular part of the pre-hospital assessment for many years, the idea of transmitting the EKGs directly to the emergency room physician, before the patient’s arrival, is a new undertaking for Lake-Sumter EMS.
The EMS Telemetry Program goal was to reduce the “door-to-balloon” time once a heart attack victim arrives at the receiving facility. National guidelines developed by the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and the American Heart Association (AHA) state that, “hospitals treating STEMI (ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction) patients with emergency PCI (percutaneous coronary intervention) should reliably achieve a door-to-balloon time of 90 minutes or less.”
As a result of this program, Dr. Paul Banerjee, Lake-Sumter EMS Medical Director has received reports from hospital administrators of door-to-balloon time as low as nine minutes, 90% shorter than the guidelines. Additionally, Lake-Sumter EMS provides EMS coverage for Sumter County in a cooperative agreement with Lake County; therefore, the citizens of both counties benefit from this life-saving program.
In announcing the awards, NACo Executive Director Larry Naake stated, “NACo is proud to confer these awards and recognize your county’s hard work to promote quality, efficient, and responsive management and administration.” A complete list of winning programs is available on NACo’s website at www.naco.org. Summaries of award winning programs will soon be included in NACo’s Model Programs database which can be accessed directly from NACo’s home page.
Jim Judge, Lake-Sumter EMS Executive Director, commented, “It is so gratifying to see the Lake-Sumter EMS team’s innovations recognized at the national level. Both the EMS Telemetry Program and the When to Call 911 Program go above and beyond the normal scope of our operation as a top-notch emergency medical service. Our staff is always willing to push the envelope to the next level when it comes to serving our community.”
The NACo Achievement Awards for 2010 will be presented at NACo’s 14th Annual Awards Ceremony on Sunday, July 18 during the association’s 2010 Annual Conference in Washoe County, NV. Lake County Commissioner Welton Cadwell, Chairman of the Lake-Sumter EMS Board of Directors, will attend the awards ceremony and accept both the EMS Telemetry Program Award and the When to Call 911 Award.
Lake-Sumter Emergency Medical Services, Inc. is a not-for-profit organization formed in 2000 by Lake and Sumter Counties to provide quality, community-based EMS services. The agency operates 28 Advanced Life Support units from stations located throughout both Lake and Sumter counties. The company is governed by a Board of Directors headed by Chairman Welton G. Cadwell. Jim Judge serves as Executive Director with administrative offices located at 2761 W. Old Highway 441 in Mount Dora, Florida. The public can contact Mr. Judge at 352-383-4554 or 352-516-1532.
