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Grand View Health tells Hilltown supervisors medic 151 meets 95% in‑service goal but cites staffing and coverage strain
Summary
Grand View Health representatives told the Hilltown Board that Medic 151 remains their primary 911 unit in the area, reporting 95–98% in‑service availability, a Hilltown response average of about 10.35 minutes, and an annual subsidy of roughly $600,000 amid regional staffing shortages.
Keith, a Grand View Health EMS representative, told the Hilltown Board of Supervisors that Grand View’s Medic 151 — the organization’s primary 911 ambulance — has been serving the area for about 40 years and provides three service levels: 911 response, medical transport and paratransit.
Keith said Grand View is committed to keeping at least one Advanced Life Support (ALS) unit in service about 95% of the time and reported in‑service rates of roughly 95–98% across recent months. For Hilltown specifically, he said Medic 151 averaged about 10.35 minutes to arrive on scene. “I can squint down to that — it’s 10.35 minutes,” he said when board members asked whether the figure referred to response into Hilltown.
The presenter described a regional mutual‑aid model in which neighboring services sometimes cover each other and said those cross‑county responses can lengthen runs back into Hilltown. He noted the system design often requires vehicles to travel farther when other units are out on calls, potentially directing patients to other hospitals and increasing travel times back to Hilltown.
Keith described a nationwide shortage of paramedics and EMTs that affects local staffing and noted steps Grand View has taken in the past year, including raising pay, instituting weekend incentives and forming student affiliation agreements to grow the paramedic pipeline. He said Grand View also contracted with an external transport provider to help move patients from the hospital when necessary.
“Ultimately our goal is the same as I would believe everyone in this room: to make sure an ambulance gets to a person as quickly as humanly possible,” Keith said. He added that Grand View currently subsidizes its EMS service by roughly $600,000 a year to maintain coverage.
Board members thanked Grand View for the presentation. One supervisor noted that Grand View’s recent designation as a trauma center should reduce transport distances for some patients and help units return to service more quickly, reducing the time ambulances are out of the primary coverage area.
The presentation closed with a brief question‑and‑answer period in which the board and audience sought clarification about response metrics and regional coverage patterns. No board action followed the presentation; the information was provided for oversight and public information.
