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Napa County EMS reports strong response times, expands digital records sharing and public CPR training
Summary
County emergency services staff told the Board May 20 that ambulance contractor American Medical Response met the county'9s response-time standards in 2024, that patient offload times remained below the county standard, and that Napa is now connected to a health information exchange linking prehospital and hospital records.
Emergency medical services leaders told the Napa County Board of Supervisors on May 20 that the county'9s ambulance response and clinical-compliance standards were met in 2024 and that training and public education work is expanding.
Sean Vincent, Napa County Emergency Medical Services administrator, said calendar-year 2024 data show American Medical Response (AMR) arrived on time in 95.12% of calls and met all contracted response-time standards. "American Medical Response met all of their response time standards. In calendar year 2024, of the 17,377 calls, they arrived on time 95.12% of the time," Vincent said.
Vincent also reported that ambulance patient offload times — the interval from ambulance arrival at a hospital to transfer of care — remain below the county standard of 20 minutes, with Queen of the Valley and Adventist Health St. Helena posting averages of about 13 and 10 minutes respectively.
The county said it has completed a health information exchange connection that links prehospital electronic patient care records with hospital records, a step county staff described as a statewide first for a county with full hospital connectivity. Vincent said the exchange helps close the loop on outcomes and improves clinical oversight of prehospital care.
Lois Husted, chair of the Emergency Medical Care Committee, emphasized public education work, noting hands-only CPR outreach to fifth, seventh and ninth graders and other community locations. "Hands only CPR is a huge thing... there were 86 events last year with almost 7,000 people being trained," Husted said, and she described a survivors' reunion event that reconnects cardiac-arrest survivors with bystanders and responders.
The presentation also covered air ambulance auto-launch policies, which have led to more dual dispatches (and thus more cancellations) because both California Highway Patrol and the county'9s REACH/Copter 11 units are alerted; whichever unit is closest responds. Vincent noted the county has also implemented clinical compliance metrics for ambulance care and reported AMR met those measures in 2024.
Ending: Officials said they will continue to expand public training, maintain data-driven oversight of ambulance services and push for broader community AED (automated external defibrillator) registration and PulsePoint app adoption to increase bystander intervention rates.
