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What is HCMC EMS?
Hennepin County Medical Center EMS is a county
hospital-based department, licensed to provide
Emergency Medical
Services (EMS) to all or part of the 14 communities in Hennepin County
listed below:
- Deephaven
- Eden
Prairie
- Excelsior
- Greenwood
- Golden
Valley (South of and including I-394)
- Hopkins
- Richfield
- St.
Anthony
- St.
Louis Park
- Tonka
Bay
- Woodland
- Minneapolis
(All except that which includes and is north of Broadway or Golden Valley
Road, and
West of the Mississippi River)
- Minnetonka
(South of I-394, excluding I-394, Ridgedale Shopping Center, and Hillcrest
Nursing Home).
- Shorewood
(Northeastern Section)
The Primary Service Area for HCMC EMS includes
approximately 266 square miles, and a population
of over 500,000 residents.
The Ambulance service responds to approximately 50,000 calls per year.
Does county EMS cover the entire county?
Prior to 1974, Hennepin County Ambulance would
respond to any call for help in Hennepin County. Their primary responsibility
was handling automobile crashes, persons in police custody or jail, and
the indigent, who were
unable to receive private ambulance service. This
often meant that ambulances were crossing each other in
order to respond
to calls. It also meant that the closest ambulance was not necessarily
the one responding.
With the establishment of a modern EMS system, Hennepin
County was divided into Primary Service
Areas (PSAs). These were given
to public and private ambulance services that had been operating in
Hennepin
County. These PSAs were established to offer a fair compromise to each
service, while
ensuring that the public would be best served by their
respective departments.
Currently, the other emergency ambulance services operating
in Hennepin County are North Medical
Transportation (a division of North
Memorial Health Care), Allina Transportation, Ridgeview Medical Center
Ambulance (Waconia, MN), and the Edina Fire Department.
Several non-emergency ambulance services also have licenses
to operate within Hennepin County.
These include HealthEast Transportation,
and CART Ambulance Inc. These services are not authorized
to provide EMS
in Hennepin County. If they receive an emergency call, or if they arrive
at a transfer
and find the patient is the victim of an emergency, they
are required to contact the local emergency
medical services.
Staffing
The Ambulance Service operates with the following
staff positions: Note: All positions are full-time
(80-hrs/pay period)
- EMS
Director:
Martin Van Buren, BS, EMT-P
- Assistant
EMS Director: Doug Gesme, BS, EMT-P
- Operations
Supervisors: 8
- Information
Technology - Kurtis Bramer, EMT - P
- Fleet Operations/Facilities - Darvyn Brandt, EMT - P
- Communications - Chris Kummer, EMT - P, EMD - Q
- Training/Employee
Development - Dave Hildebrandt, EMT - P
- Safety/Compliance
- Bob Ball, EMT - P
- QA/QI/Process
Improvement - Dave Rogers, EMT - P, EMD - Q
- Community
Relations -
Mike Rogers, EMT - P
- Emergency
Preparedness/Staffing - Tom Ward, EMT - P
- Paramedics:
103
- EMT-EMD:
15
- Stock/Support
personnel: 4
- Billing/Registration
Clerk: 1
- Staffing
Coordinator:
1
- Office
Specialist:
1
For information about jobs at HCMC EMS, go to:
http://www.hcmc.org/general/employment.htm
Operational Staffing
HCMC EMS operates on a modified System Status
Management plan. This plan is designed to provide quality
emergency
services, while
controlling costs. In essence, this means when demand is high, more ambulances
are in service and when demand is low, fewer ambulances are in service.
Peak staffing is 13 Paramedic units. Lowest off-peak
staffing is 6 Paramedic units.
Response Times
Hennepin County EMS is required by county ordinance
to respond to emergency calls within a specific time
frame. The establishment
of these response time standards is based on a number of variables, including
population density and call volume.
For more information on Hennepin County's EMS ordinance,
go to: Ordinance 9
For more information:
Martin Van Buren, Director
Hennepin County Medical Center EMS
701 Park Ave.
Minneapolis, MN 55415-1829
e-mail: martin.vanburen@hcmed.org
phone: (612) 873-2172
fax: (612) 904-4605
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