Roving Ambulance in Grand Chute
GRAND CHUTE – The number of emergency situations in Grand Chute hasn’t necessarily gone up, but more people in the community are likely crossing paths with an ambulance.
For the past week, Gold Cross, which provides ambulance service throughout Outagamie, Winnebago and Calumet counties, has had a 24 hour roving ambulance to get a head start on an emergency.
“We’re putting them in designed locations throughout Grand Chute where the likelihood of another call, or the probability of the call is great,” said Mark Fredrickson, the operations director for Gold Cross. “The reason we’re doing this is that seconds count in an emergency.”
Fredrickson says at a fixed location, it typically takes a paramedic between 60 and 90 seconds to get in their ambulance and on their way to an emergency. The 60 to 90 seconds is referred to as the chute time.
With the roving ambulance and crews required to be in the vehicle, Fredrickson says the chute time is out the window.
“When the emergency comes in, many times, they hear it on the scanner, even before we get the call and they start moving to that location,” said Fredrickson.
During FOX 11’s interview with the roving ambulance paramedics, an emergency call came in. The chute time from being dispatched was six seconds. The crew couldn’t say whether they in fact were closer to the scene, but they got going quicker.
“It’s improving the response times,” said Fredrickson. “They were good before. They are just going to be better.”
Fredrickson says response times should be even better in 30 days. That is when new software is expected to arrive to help guide the roving paramedics.
“It goes back five years and dumps data of all our calls of that region, that area, so we will know the likelihood of where the next call will be just from the computer,” said Fredrickson.
For now, the new rover will remain on the prowl in Grand Chute as the paramedics hope to be closer to where they are needed more often than they are now.
Gold Cross, owned by 4 area hospitals, plans to put two more of its nine Fox Valley ambulances on the prowl in the next two years.
Medic 3 Donated
On November 23rd, Gold Cross donated the former Medic 3 to the Neenah-Menasha Fire Rescue Dive Team. The unit will serve as a tow vehicle for their rescue boat as well as storage for their rescue equipment and as a means of shelter for rescues during inclement weather. Another story will follow once the unit receives a new “facelift” sometime next year. We are more than happy to assist the dive team with the donation of this vehicle. Below NMFR Assistant Chief Mike Sipin receives the keys to the ambulance from Gold Cross Executive Director, Jack Hill.
The Stars Visit the Capitol
Nominated by their respective ambulance service employers throughout the state of Wisconsin as the best of the best, twenty Stars of Life from the class of 2010 and 2011 were honored at the State Capitol in Madison on October 18th. A Joint Resolution was voted on in their presence in both the Senate and Assembly acknowledging their EMS professionalism, which was accompanied by a standing ovation from elected leaders in both house chambers. The day-long event was proudly produced by the Professional Ambulance Association of Wisconsin.
The group was welcomed in the Capitol Rotunda by Department of Health Services Deputy Secretary Kitty Rhoades, a longtime advocate of EMS, Joint Resolution co-sponsors, Senator Sheila Harsdorf and Representative Dean Kaufert, himself a newly licensed EMT, as well as State EMS Office ALS Program Coordinator Fred Hornby. The Stars then moved to the Senate chambers, followed by the Assembly, for reading of the Resolution and high honors of congratulations extended by the State.
Stars also met individually with their local legislators to discuss EMS and have photos with their elected leaders. Over 26 legislative appointments were scheduled for Stars honorees, to include a meeting with Governor Scott Walker.
Stars from our Fox Valley area that attended the event at the Capitol were Steve Radich, Shelley Donner, Steve Krantz, Karen Dallman and Ron Flegal (Gold Cross Ambulance), Barb Tyler-Lord (Brillion Ambulance) and Doug Schoen (Hilbert Potter First Responders) and Ben Schoenborn (Calumet Medical Center Ambulance).
According to PAAW President Patrick Ryan, “Stars stood up for EMS today at the State Capitol. It was nice to see their contributions and this award noted, honored and recognized.”
Medic 10 Retired and Donated
Gold Cross has donated the former Medic 10 to the City of Menasha Police Department as their crime scene / crime prevention unit. They will be having it re-painted/lettered in the near future and at that time, will do a follow-up story. The city’s former crime scene / crime prevention unit was a 1987 Ford ambulance that Gold Cross donated back in the ’90′s and has been in need of replacement. We are honored to be able to help out the Menasha police department once again. Below, Operations Director, Mark Fredrickson hands the keys off to Menasha Police Officer Martin Schrampfer.
