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Clear Creek EMS says staffing shortfalls and rising calls require more ambulances; staff to provide visitor‑vs‑resident data
Summary
Clear Creek EMS staff told commissioners Feb. 10 that demand has risen sharply, that the EMS fund needs additional full‑time paramedics to sustain current service levels, and that the county should compile clearer data on how much of the workload is visitor‑related.
Clear Creek EMS officials told a joint meeting of county and municipal leaders on Feb. 10 that rising call volumes and limited staffing require additional full‑time paramedics and that the EMS dedicated fund cannot sustain current demand without new resources.
Aaron Crowley, EMS director, described ongoing staffing shortfalls and said the service "requested Gilpin 106 times in 2024" for mutual‑aid transports. Crowley and other staff said EMS needed three additional full‑time paramedics several years ago to sustain a third full‑time ambulance, and that continued growth in call volume will require still more staff and units in the coming decade.
Why it matters: EMS staffing levels affect response time and local ambulance availability; when local units are unavailable, neighboring services must respond or transport patients, sometimes with added cost to residents.
Operational data and trends discussed - Calls and time on task: staff cited year‑to‑date figures showing 2024 with roughly 1,796 total calls and described an average "time on task" figure discussed in the meeting as about 29 minutes, 38 seconds for certain reporting windows; staff also described overlapping calls (multiple simultaneous incidents) accounting for about 31% of instances in a recent period. - Mutual aid and transport: Clear Creek requested mutual‑aid transport from Gilpin County 106 times in 2024, per the EMS director’s remarks; participants noted that transfers to out‑of‑county providers can impose an extra surcharge (example discussed: 10% surcharge on transfers) and can lengthen time ambulances are unavailable locally. - Staffing requirement: meeting remarks said EMS needed three additional paramedics to run a third full‑time ambulance and warned the EMS dedicated fund would be under strain by 2026 without added resources.
Next steps and data requests - Commissioners asked EMS, fire and the sheriff to meet and jointly prepare the visitor‑vs‑resident call breakdown and other call‑type trend data to inform the FAQ and any potential ballot language. - EMS staff said they would run year‑over‑year trend analyses back to 2020 and provide the requested breakdowns for the March 10 follow‑up.
