If Wayne County’s emergency medical services (EMS) director Jim Lee gets his way, the county could have its own ambulance operation by 2023.
Lee is pitching a proposal to the Board of Supervisors that calls for a county-wide service with four ambulance bases, allowing for 15-minute response times to more than 90% of the community, according to the Finger Lakes Times.
The proposal comes after a 2020 report of the county’s EMS services by Fitch and Associates found that the average response time in Wayne County remained at 1999 levels, or 21 minutes. They recommended the response time be shortened to 15 minutes.
Total startup costs for the program are estimated to be around $5.5 million, with yearly operating expenses of $6.2 million.
If the county move forward with the plan, they would use some of the $17 million allocated to the county from the COVID-19 stimulus bill to pay for the ambulance service.
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