“Minutes matter”: CSFD proposes plans for city-run ambulance service
(COLORADO SPRINGS) — Ambulance services could change in Colorado Springs, as the Colorado Springs Fire Department (CSFD) is proposing a city-run ambulance service aimed at improving response time, lowering costs, and benefiting the current medical programs in place.
CSFD presented their proposal to members of City Council on Monday, May 13, and detailed why the department is best suited to provide emergency ambulance services.
“We believe we are going to be able to manage those resources better in integrating our community and public health units to take away those low acuity calls that are critical, and resources don’t need to be on,” said CSFD Fire Chief Randy Royal. “We’re going to increase response times. We’re going to shorten those wait times on scene, and that’s going to be a benefit to all the patients.”
The City of Colorado Springs is currently under contract with American Medical Response (AMR), but the contract is set to expire in April 2025. During the City Council Work Session on Monday, representatives from AMR were in attendance. Following the presentation, they answered questions from City Council and shared the role of AMR in the community.
“I would like to point out it’s somewhat disheartening… I fully respect the folks that are sworn in, but it’s somewhat disparaging and sad to me because my folks do the same job, and they care just as much as everybody else,” said Regional Director for AMR, Christopher Williams.
Dozens of cities across the country have this type of ambulance service in place, one that does not work with a private third-party.
CSFD’s proposal would centralize control and give the department the oversight to provide emergency ambulance services throughout the city. Part of the presentation included a comparison of response times between CSFD and AMR, along with what happens when CSFD is first on the scene.
“I can tell you that is very, very frustrating,” Royal said. “If you’re watching a mother with a baby that’s just born is bleeding out in front of you and knowing that we can only do stopgap, that person has to get to the hospital.”
The graphic below shows the response time of CSFD in 2023 to be 8:29, whereas AMR was 13:26.
AMR directly addressed response time during the work session, referencing the shortage of employees following the COVID-19 pandemic and how they have worked to fix these problems.
“Through the work we’ve done from a staffing standpoint, we’ve put over 50 of our folks through paramedic school in the course of the last couple of years to fix some of those issues: national recruitment processes, retention and referral bonuses and programs like that to really get us back to where we are at today,” said Williams.
The proposed Emergency Medical Services Enterprise would not use tax dollars, and the cost of an ambulance ride would be a flat fee with no additional charges. Colorado Springs Mayor Yemi Mobolade supports this proposal, and explained why he thinks this would be an investment into the future of the city.
“We must continue to lean into a tiered response. What does this call need, and the ability for all of us, for our fire department, to take control of the whole process, it’s exactly where we need to be,” Mobolade said. “Because at the end of the day, it does save our taxpayers money because we don’t have to deploy an engine when we don’t need to. So, the ability to have control over the process is really a huge win for this entire city.”
The presentation from the work session is available online at coloradosprings.gov/EMSTransport, and the proposal is expected to be voted on by City Council next month.
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