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A Chaska Ambulance Service ApplCITY OF CHANHASSEN 7700 Market Boulevard PO Box 147 CI~anhassen MN 55317 Phone: 952 227 1100 Fax: 952 227 1110 Phone; 952 2271180 Fax: 9522271190 Engineering Fax: 9522271170 Finance Phor/e: 952 2271140 Fax: 9522271110 Park & Recreation Phone: 952227.1120 Fax: 952227.1110 Recreation Center 2310 Coulter Boulevard Phone: 952.2271400 Fax: 9522271404 Planning & Natural Resources Public Works 1591 Park Road Phone: 9522271300 Fax: 9522271310 Senior Center Phor~e: 952 22X 1125 Fax: 952 2271110 Web Site wwwci.chanhassen mn us MEMORANDUM TO: Todd Gerhardt, City Manager FROM: DATE: Justin Miller, Assistant to the City Manager August 19, 2003 RE: Chaska Ambulance Service's Application for an Advanced Ambulance License BACKGROUND The City of Chaska is in the process of requesting a license to provide advanced ambulance service for their residents. Matt Podhradsky, Assistant to the City Administrator for Chaska, will be present at Monday's work session to discuss their application and outline what support they are looking for from the City of Chanhassen. Attached to this report is a memo from Matt Podhradsky summarizing their situation as well as a letter of support that was sent in April 2003 from the City of Chanhassen. The Cily of Chanhassen · A grovving community with clean lakes quality schools a charming downtown thrivirg businesses winding trails, and beautiful parks A great place to live, work, and play Chaska Ambulance License Upgrade Page I City of Chaska Memorandum To: From: Date: Subject: .lustin Miller - City of Chanhassen Matt Podhradsky August 19, 2003 Chaska Ambulance License Upgrade As you requested, T will be speaking to your City Council on Monday, August 25th on the progress the City of Chaska is making with our attempt to upgrade our ambulance license to an Advanced Life Support license. This memo will provide you and the Council with some background on the application process we have been completing. Over the past nine months the Chaska Fire Department has been studying alternative approaches for providing emergency medical services to the community. Currently, the City of Chaska responds as a Basic Life Support service vehicle from the Chaska Fire Department, with Chaska Police Department acting as First Responders and Allina Ambulance acting as the Advanced Life Support service. Allina Ambulance has been the main transport service for all calls going out of the City of Chaska. This has resulted in response times of 2-4 minutes from the Fire Department Basic Life Support and Allina Ambulance typically arriving with one paramedic and one EMT within an 8~10 minutes time period. The problem that the City of Chaska has found with this system is that with the significant increase of calls, both in Chaska and in Allina's service area, we are very concerned that over time we will "burn out" the volunteer Firemen and that our response times will get longer as the population increases. We desire to maintain the current service levels within our community and therefore we have been exploring alternative ambulance providers. In undertaking the ambulance study, we have developed the following key objectives: IVlaintain Chaska's current level of services to our customers, both now and into the future when the community reaches its ultimate population of approximately 35,000 residents. Reduce the number of First Responder calls to which our volunteer Firemen are required to respond. Maintain current City subsidies of Chaska Ambulance Service, which for 2003 was approximately $60,000. Continue to have Chaska Police Department respond to ambulance rescue calls. The City of Chaska is concerned that if we do not explore alternative options for our ambulance service, we will not be able to maintain our high level of service to the community, with close to 600 annual ambulance calls alone. Currently the Chaska Fire Department responds to nearly :~,000 calls of combined ambulance and fire calls ONE CITY HALL PLAZA/CHASKA, MN 55318-1962/PH: (952) 448-2851/FX: (952) 448- 9300 Chaska Ambulance License Upgrade Page 2 annually. This represents over three calls per day for each volunteer, which is quickly becoming an unmanageable situation for the Fire Department to continue to handle. We realize that our best alternative is to seek placing an Advanced Life Support Ambulance within our own fire station, in order to maintain the current level of service we provide. In order to do this, we must complete an upgrade in our ambulance license and change our current primary service area from a Basic Life Support license to an Advanced Life Support license. The City of Chaska has submitted an application for upgrade to the State and is currently awaiting a hearing in front of the administrative law judge. This process has been contested since Allina Ambulance currently holds the license. Although we feel that Allina has provided us with good service in the past, we are concerned that this service will not be maintained into the future. Currently Allina has the majority of its calls in cities farther east of Chaska, ie Bloomington, and Savage. Therefore their response time is becoming longer to the City of Chaska, as population increases in Allina's service area. We are concerned at this time that response times to the City of Chaska would be much longer than what we feel is acceptable in emergency situations. Therefore we are seeking to come to a resolution on placing an ambulance within the City in order to better serve Chaska and the nearby surrounding area. The City is currently negotiating with both Allina and Ridgeview Medical to provide an ALS unit within the City of Chaska. This unit would combine the services of a contracted ALS provider with the volunteer services of the Chaska Fire Department in order to provide similar, if not better, ambulance coverage. It is our hope that the State Emergency Medical Regulatory Service Board will approve the City of Chaska's application and give us the ability to seek this alternative form of ALS service. We feel this would be the best option for our residents and would help improve the services in Carver County in general. At your work session on August 25th I will describe the application process in greater detail and answer any questions your Councilmembers may have. MP:ms ONE CITY HALL PLAZA/CHASKA, MN 55318-1962/PH: (952) 448-2851/FX: (952) 448- 9300 CITYOF CHANHASSEN 7700 Market BouLevard PO Box147 Chanhassen, MN 55317 Administration Fax 952.227 1110 PIsone 9522271180 Fax~ 9522271190 Engineering Phone: 9522271160 Fax 952 2271170 Phone: 952 2271140 Fax: 9522271110 Park & Recreation Phor, e: 9522271120 Fax~ 9522271110 Recreation Center 2310 CouLter Bouievard Phone: 952.2271400 Fax: 9522271404 Planning & Nalural Resources P, one: 9522271130 Fax: 952 2271110 Public Works Phone: 9522271300 Fax: 9522271310 Senior Center Phone: 9522271125 Fax: 952 227 1110 Web Site ,,,,,w,,,, ni r'hantlassen mn us April9,2003 To Whom It May Concern: RE: Chaska Ambulance Upgrade to ALS License Dear Sir or Madam: I am writing this letter in support of Chaska Ambulance and their proposal to seek upgrading of their Basic Life Support (BLS) license to an Advanced Life Support (ALS) license, and to modify the current Primary Service Area to include Chaska as the ALS license holder in this territory. The City of Chaska has worked hard over the past several years to maintain their current level of ambulance service, even while experiencing a large population growth in the community. This level of ambulance service has always been extremely high, due mainly to the dedication of their volunteer fire department members. In the past, Chaska's model has worked well by providing BLS service through Chaska Ambulance, having them be the first on the scene, and having Allina Medical Transportation and Ridgeview Medical Center Ambulance provide ALS service, typically responding from outside of the City limits. But as the call volumes have increased to nearly 600 medical calls per year, it has increasingly become difficult to provide the same high level of pre- hospital care, while at the same time, not eroding their volunteer base. With the high current call load, and medical call loads expected to continue to increase over the next ten years to over 1200 calls annually, it has become clear that the only way to continue to provide a high level of ambulance service in the community is to provide an ALS unit based within Chaska City limits. I applaud the City of Chaska for their dedication to continue to provide a high level of service for their residents, and for thoroughly researching their possible options for providing an ALS service unit from within the community. I also support Chaska Ambulance's partnership with Ridgeview Ambulance to have a contracted ALS unit based out of the Chaska Fire Station. The model they have developed helps ensure that they create an ambulance service model that will be strong into the future, and not "burn out" the volunteers that have given Chaska such high quality service in the past. One of the cornerstones of ALS care is the ability to provide immediate treatment of severe life threatening events on site, at the scene of the call. Basing an ALS unit in Chaska that does not have to travel from another community will help decrease the time it takes to get to a call, in most cases cutting the response time of an ALS unit in half. Chaska has a current ALS response time with Allina and Ridgeview of 8-10 minutes. Under The Cily of Chanhassen · A growing community with clean Lakes, quality schools a charming downtown thriving businesses winding trails and beautilul palks A great place to live work. nod play Chaka Ambulance Upgrade to ALS Services April 9, 2003 Page 2 their proposed model, providing an ALS unit within the community will reduce that response time to 2-4 minutes, in most cases. I feel that this is significant, especially in regards the time sensitive nature of cardiovascular events. The City of Chanhassen also supports expansion of ALS services to the State Highway 101 and 212 areas. We believe this will improve coverage/services along this corridor. I am also pleased that Ridgeview Ambulance will be contracted to provide the ALS service from within Chaska. My experience with Ridgeview has been very positive, and I am certain that their Director, Darel Radde, will provide positive direction for this service in Chaska into the future. Again, I fully support Chaska Ambulance in their efforts to upgrade their BLS license to an ALS license, and to change the PSA to include their ALS license in this territory. Specifically, I understand that Chaska is requesting that the following territory be included in their ALS license: · City of Chaska (all current city limits) · Laketown Township · Sections as noted: - Township 116, Range 24, Section 24 east of County Road 11/Victoria Dr. - Township 116, Range 24, Section 25 east of County Road 11/Victoria Dr. - Township 116, Range 24, Section 36 east of County Road 11/victoria Dr. · Chaska Township · All Township 115, Range 23 and entire sections 5, 6, 7, and 8 · City of Carver (all current and proposed City limits) · City of Chanhassen: South of Pioneer Trail/County Road 14 to south end of City limits If you should have any questions about our support of this plan, please do not hesitate to contact me at 952-227-1119. Sincerely, Todd Gerhardt City Manager TG:k