The success of the Colonie EMS Department is not just the work of the department itself, Deputy Chief Peter Berry said, because a lot of the credit is due to a collaborative effort within the town.
It’s really not the EMS’ success in being nationally recognized, it’s the town, he said. `And that’s something that is very important everybody understands. The town works as a team. And if it wasn’t for all those important players, we wouldn’t be able to do it.`
It was National EMS Appreciation Week last week, and the Colonie EMS Department has plenty of honors to point to. It has won awards regionally, nationally and internationally and has made great strides in reducing response time. But Berry made sure to mention the role other areas of town government, such as general services, the town attorney and the comptroller’s office, have played in helping EMS acquire the technology to be great.
`Without [Supervisor Paula Mahan’s] leadership and support, from a funding perspective, to do the things we do and get the things we need to get done,` Berry said. `We went for a federal grant to improve and replace heart monitor technology. There’s a matching component to that, which the town has to commit to. That’s 20 percent.`
Despite the week of recognition, Berry said the EMTs don’t really see themselves as heroes. They enjoy their jobs, Berry said, and they don’t expect the recognition.
`They do this to help people,` he said. `They’re not into it for the glory or the awards.`
There have been a lot of changes made in the department that has led to its success. Berry said one of the things the department began doing this year was positioning vehicles in strategic locations around the town that are identified as hot spots. This helps in reducing the response time for some of these vehicles, as well as improving patient outcomes.
There has also been new on-the-job training, led by medical director Dr. Michael Dailey. Berry said it will focus on key data, focusing on where fainting episodes occur, since they get a lot of those calls. Doing this while on duty helps save money and improve training and patient care, Berry said.
`We’ve got more units on the road today then we have previously, and we’re able to do that at the same cost,` he said. `All we did was split a unit up so we could improve response times.`
Berry said that when the department gets a call, it does a `medical triage` by using a software system called Medical Priority Dispatch. The system is able to say what unit to send and how the unit should respond.
By changing the way the crews receive the information, Berry said, the department has cut its response time by nearly a minute. Even with driving at high speeds and lights flashing, Berry said workers can’t make up the time spent disseminating the information.
Dailey said he is impressed by what the department has been able to do in terms of saving the town money and reaching its own goals. He also cited the collaborative effort among the police department and some of the volunteer fire departments in the town.
`I think the foresight of the management team and the ability to drive their department towards success is great,` he said. `They have quality personnel that are well-trained and well-equipped.`
Dailey sits on a state EMS committee and said that while he is talking about the best practices the Colonie EMS performs, he is able to learn what other organizations are doing, allowing Colonie EMS to improve on that.
`I’m really, really proud of our guys,` he said. `They do a spectacular job every day. They do a good job on the little cases and the big ones.`
Berry said he can’t discount the work that is done by the residents of Colonie themselves. Having AED’s in schools, businesses, churches and some gyms has increased the survival rate for incidents. The town’s computer-aided dispatch system is linked with AED’s throughout the town so if a call was to come in, the dispatcher is able to tell if there is an AED machine in the building.
`They can say, ‘Go get the AED. It’s in the front lobby by the door,` he said.
They will then ask if a person there knows CPR. If they don’t, the dispatcher, all of whom are trained in CPR, will then instruct them how to do it. There is also a video on how to do it on Colonie’s website.
The department also holds events where it will teach members of the community how to perform CPR. Berry said there is a Friends and Family CPR training evening on Wednesday, June 1, along with various other events throughout the year.
`If we can get people to spend some time with their hands on a mannequin and develop those psychomotor skills, even if they don’t go back and retrain themselves, when they make that 911 call and that dispatcher talks to them, it’ll start coming back,` he said.
Colonie EMS also does training for staff at the Colonie Senior Service Centers.
Kelly Mateja, director of programs and services, said she is grateful for the work the department does. She said the crews are always calm and professional when they arrive, and also help them with the amount of medication some seniors must take.
`EMS absolutely helps them work through these things,` she said. `They are such a treasure in our community. It shouldn’t be just a week, everyday should be EMS day.`
Mahan has consistently said that public safety is a top priority of hers. She has praised the department for the work it has done and said the town gets calls or letter from families that praise the work of Colonie EMS quite frequently.
She said it is important to run a strong program that has high expectations and takes a proactive approach.
`I think our EMS department does that very well,` she said. `They’re very progressive and I think we are a model for many others to follow.“
