The state Health Department has released its year-end report of the activities of Pennsylvania’s Emergency Medical Service providers. The report covers a wide array of data, including the number and types of dispatches for ambulance services, response times, auto crash responses, and an extensive list of medical procedures conducted by EMTs.
One of the more interesting statistics is the number of times emergency personnel administered Naloxone to overdose victims. In Indiana County, that happened 71 times in 2018. By comparison, some of the five neighboring counties had drastically higher number, some far fewer. Westmoreland County had 420 Naloxone doses administered by EMS providers. Cambria County had 186. Armstrong had 65, Clearfield 29, and Jefferson 19.
Another metric in the report is response time, listed by county. In Indiana County, which is served primarily by Citizens Ambulance Service, the average response time from dispatch to arrival at the scene was 12.43 minutes. That places the county 52nd out of 67 counties in the state and is an indication of the wide geographical area the state’s rural counties.
Yet another interesting statistic: the number of EMT certifications that expired last year. In Indiana County, there were 41 emergency medical technicians whose certifications expired last year. The report also says there were 308 EMS field providers in Indiana County.
The Health Department began issuing EMS data reports just last year, so there is no similar report from 2017 for comparison.
