Steuben County committee approves EMS study

BATH -- With the need for emergency medical responders on the rise in Steuben County, the county Legislature Public Safety and Corrections Committee approved Monday a study by the Center for Public Safety Management LLC on how current needs are being met. The study will be the first extensive look at response to emergency medical needs by the county in over 10 years, and will track services from the time 9-1-1 dispatchers field a call to the on-site response and hospital admittance. "This will run the whole gamut of what happens," county Office of Emergency Services Director Tim Marshall told the committee. "What dispatch does, is basic life support required or is advanced, the time it takes, who responds, mutual aid, what happens pre-hospital? Everything." Steuben is facing a challenge many rural areas across the nation are wrestling with -- how to get the best service available to people located a significant distance from medical centers. Steuben now has two paid emergency medical systems in Corning and Hornell, with volunteers in 18 corps responding to the remaining calls in rural areas. Not only is certification becoming more difficult and time consuming for volunteers, the cost to rural communities to pay for equipment and training is increasing, and fewer volunteers are available during standard work hours. Marshall said the $58,000 study will take up to eight months, with the results passed on to the county Legislature and emergency medical responders in Steuben. The study will be paid for by funds now in the department's budget and also will include options to improve services. "We have worked on ways to handle this for years," Marshall said. "This study will give us a firm idea of what is really happening so we can make some critical decisions."