Emergency Response Times In North Madison: What Do You Want To Know?

Editor's Note: Madison Patch is meeting with Madison Ambulance Association Director and Emergency Medical Services Director Chris Bernier and North Madison Volunteer Fire Company Chief Don MacMillan Tuesday afternoon. Do you have any questions you'd like to have answered? Let us know in the comments or by emailing pem.mcnerney@patch.com.

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A recent story about an accident last week on Devonshire Lane sparked a discussion about emergency response times in North Madison.

There have been no specific concerns expressed about the response times relating to this accident to Madison Patch. But the earlier story did prompt a question, a heated discussion, and several comments about general concerns relating to how the town's emergency personnel can best serve all parts of town, given the town's geography and the location of some services in the southern part of town.

Here is some background:

Madison is 14 miles long and a few miles wide. One of the challenges of providing emergency medical services in town is making sure that the entire town is covered adequately, while staying within budget and using existing resources.

Madison's new ambulance center is located in the south part of town, at 9 Old State Highway 79, at the intersection of Durham Road, near I-95 and near the town's downtown. Madison Ambulance covers the entire town, which includes 36 square miles with a population of about 18,700 and about 1,700 calls for service annually. They also provide mutual assistance to surrounding towns, as those surrounding towns do for Madison. Madison Ambulance has 20 Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics. 

The northern part of North Madison is more than 10 miles away from the new ambulance headquarters. In the summer, the population in the southern part of town swells significantly, with the addition of summer residents, Hammonasset campers and day visitors, and day visitors to downtown.

When a call comes in to Madison's dispatch center at the Madison Police Department, trained medical experts from one of several town organizations might be dispatched, almost simultaneously.

Those organizations include the town's police department, located at 9 Campus Drive, off of Duck Hole Road, also more than 10 miles from the northern-most parts of town. The town's police department stations vehicles all over town, and often has units stationed near the traffic circle at the intersection of Routes 80 and 79 and further north. The units, and officers, are generally deployed on staggered shifts, in a way that is designed to provide the town with coverage at all times.

In the south part of town, trained medical experts from Madison Hose Co. No. 1 can be dispatched. They are located in their firehouse downtown at 655 Boston Post Road. Covering the north part of town is the North Madison Volunteer Fire Co., which has a medical response unit stationed at their headquarters near the traffic circle at the intersection of Routes 80 and 79, at 864 Opening Hill Road.

Volunteer firefighters, who are also trained medical experts, are also sometimes dispatched directly to emergencies from their homes.

Trained medical experts are also dispatched from the Madison Ambulance Association. The Ambulance Association currently has two ambulances available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., each staffed with a paramedic and an EMT. From 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., the town currently has one ambulance with two EMTs, and a paramedic in a fly car, who is deployed as needed.

Madison Ambulance Association EMS Director Chris Bernier has said the association ideally would like to have two ambulances, each with a paramedic and an EMT on from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. The budget for the upcoming fiscal year provides the ambulance association with an additional $35,000, to allow the association to staff an additional paramedic from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Here are portions of the discussion thread that was started Saturday, June 9, 2012 relating to the accident last week:

Response time from time call first received (not time it was entered) to arrival of police?

Always a good question ... I don't have any information at all from police yet. I can check when the records become available.

Why does the police department's exact response time matter???? I can assure you that an incident like that would have everyone moving faster than they probably should be. If you're attempting to find some malfeasance, you're looking in the wrong place.

I agree with Matt, why does the response time matter.

I can assure you when the dispatcher recieved the call, the dispached it as soon as possible. I'm sure the responding units went as fast as they should.

As to jumping to conlusions, once again Pem's true colors are showing. Act like a journalist, not a police officer

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Seriously guys, lets not become hostile over such a sad story. I believe response time does come into play due to the distance between the ambulance housing and where Devonshire lane is. It isn't necessarily a critisism to ask how long it took. It just means that as a resident, you are concerned for the safety of ALL residents, near and far. Lets just focus on the prayers that are needed for this family and maybe learning about window safety in the summer time. I am sure that in the spirit of leaving comments we all appreciate discussions, questions and opinions being made, however it would be better received if you keep all wording factual and non-insulting/personal.

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Very true Sarah. Being one that lives near Devonshire, I am concerned about the ambulance being so far but this is not the place to discuss this. Start a new thread to bicker.

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[editor's note: at this point, we started a new thread to continue the discussion about emergency response times, apart from the original story]

@joey. I 100% agree with you that response times are important for residents up north. I live a few houses down from this accident. I know the responders came as quickly ad possible. The town leaders are the ones that need to answer your questions..ask McPherson