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Edgar County EMS reports higher transport times after more rural calls in November
Summary
County emergency services reported 246 911 calls in November, with transport times nearly doubling due to increased rural and out-of-town responses; staff said most response-time metrics remain below contract thresholds and staff will review transfer and destination patterns.
Speaker 2 presented the county's November EMS and 911 report, saying the service handled 246 total 911 calls last month and that 230 of those were completed with either a transport or a refusal of care. Speaker 2 said the service averaged a little over eight calls per day.
"All the response time still remain lower than the contractual threshold," Speaker 2 said, but added that "our transport times were almost doubled this last month" because crews answered an influx of calls in rural parts of the county and made longer out-of-town transports.
Speaker 2 provided additional counts: 13 emergent transfers and 33 non-emergent transfers in November; one mutual-aid/fire standby assist with the city fire department; 44 refusals of care; 29 hospital-to-non-hospital trips; eight public-service requests; four appointment calls; and nine classes taught by the EMS educator for a total of 81 students.
On destinations, Speaker 2 said 162 patients were transported to the local ER, 15 to Union Hospital in Terre Haute, two calls involved rendezvousing with a helicopter, and others went to facilities in Mattoon. Board members asked whether Regional and Union hospitals had merged; Speaker 2 confirmed the two entities were "merging" or combining services and Speaker 4 clarified that, at present, Regional's emergency department was not reported as shutting down but that OB and wound care would be handled at the Union campus.
Board members pressed on the share of rural calls. Speaker 2 estimated roughly 20% of calls are normally outside Paris city limits, and said November appeared higher — closer to 30–40% — because of frequent district responses and multiple daily calls that month. The board and staff noted some rural responses were non-transport lift assists rather than scene-to-hospital transports.
Speaker 2 and the board said they will continue to monitor transport patterns, confirm destination protocols with local hospitals, and follow up on how consolidation of services might affect response times and patient destinations. The county emphasized that most response-time metrics remain below contractual thresholds despite the November increase in transport duration.
