I am stunned by the apparent callousness shown Woodland, La Center and Ridgefield residents by the news of a new contract between the city councils and Clark County Emergency Medical Services District 2. Allowable response times for ambulances would increase from 12 minutes to 20 minutes. This violates best practices and standards for EMS response times as well as increases the risk of negligence claims by increasing the risk of death in certain cases as shown in the following references:
From the National Fire Protection Association: “On all EMS calls, the NFPA 1710 standard establishes a turnout time of one minute, and four minutes or less for the arrival of a unit with first responder or higher level capability at an emergency medical incident. … If a fire department provides ALS services, the standard recommends arrival of an ALS company within an eight-minute response time to 90 percent of incidents. This does not preclude the four-minute initial response.”
The American Heart Association’s scientific position is that brain death and permanent death start to occur in 4 to 6 minutes after someone experiences cardiac arrest. Cardiac arrest can be reversible if treated within a few minutes with an electric shock and ALS intervention to restore a normal heartbeat. Studies show that chances of survival are reduced by 7 to 10 percent with every minute that passes without defibrillation and advanced life support intervention.
I hope that our elected officials can do better than what is currently being proposed.
