Manitou Springs to start in-house ambulance service next week
MANITOU SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- A desire for faster response times is the catalyst behind the town beginning an ambulance service for its own residents, according to a release issued Friday.
The town's fire department will begin providing the service Sunday with six new employees assigned to work three daily shifts in one of two newly-acquired ambulances; the other will serve as a backup.
Each ambulance will have a paramedic and an emergency medical technician (EMT), and will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week; the new staff will train and work with existing fire department staff and volunteers.
In the release, Fire Chief John Forsett said: "We would also like to thank American Medical Response and recognize them for their years of service to our community and continued partnership moving forward into the future" -- making it clear that he has no dissatisfaction or frustration with AMR, but adding that he will now use AMR only to backup the new Manitou Service.
AMR has recently paid significant fines to Colorado Springs for falling short of response time requirements; the company cited worker shortages as a factor.
According to the release: "The establishment of an EMS Transport Division was solely based on the desire of the Fire Department to provide reliable professional emergency medical care and transport in a significantly reduced response time frame than that currently being provided."
Forsett explained that response times have averaged between 20 and 40 minutes, and said that the new service should significantly reduce those times to an average of around five-and-a-half minutes.
Officials rolled out the new ambulances Friday, and one resident said that he has mixed feelings about the new service.
"You always have a little bit of a concern whenever a municipality does everything in-house, as far as taking stock of the town as a whole," said Barry Sullivan. "But I think, all in all, it's going to be more positive than negative."
Another resident said that the town's new service will be a big advantage for medical calls on the nearby Manitou Incline.
"It'll be a lot better to have one this close and ready to go, instead of waiting for one to come from somewhere in Colorado Springs," the resident said.
The fire department already had three paramedics and three EMTs who responded to medical calls but did not transport patients to hospitals.
Among the hirees are paramedic Anthony Lara, a former Manitou Springs police officer, and EMT Mackenzie Buckmiller, who worked as a volunteer on the fire department's medical team.
"I just wanted to further my medical education and expand more on my medical career," he said.
Buckmiller expressed her excitement about the new opportunity.
"Yes, just being able to work in the community that I've grown up in, and running into people who basically raised me, I think is pretty special," she said.
Forsett said that because Manitou's ambulance service is a nonprofit operation, it will be easier to provide faster response times at lower cost.
He said that Manitou's service follows a recent trend of smaller local municipalities -- such as Black Forest and Falcon -- operating their own ambulance services.
Officials said that the $753,000 annual cost of the service should be offset eventually with revenue from patients who use it.
