Submitted by Clark Judge
The Killingworth Ambulance Association last year answered more than one emergency call per day, with the pattern of responses slightly different from those in 2019.
According to information compiled by the association, EMTs were dispatched on 370 calls in 2020, a slight increase over the 355 the year before. The most prevalent response was for victims of falls, with the numbers consistent over the two years.
Where there were 71 last year there were 75 in 2019.
But there were changes after that, with breathing problems the most notable. They ranked fifth in 2019, comprising 6.2 percent of all calls, but jumped to second a year later – with 36 calls comprising 9.6 percent of the total.
The explanation? Simple. The COVID-19 pandemic. It surged through the country in March and didn’t recede as the year wore on, with the KAA responding to more persons complaining of breathing problems the second half of 2020.
But that’s not all. What follows are the top five calls for 2019-20, with percentages of the totals in parentheses:
- Falls – 71 (19.2)
- Breathing problems – 36 (9.7)
- Sick person – 35 (9.5)
- Not entered – 32 (8.6)
- Traffic accident – 25 (6.8)
Now compare that to the five leading calls in 2019 …
- Fall victims – 75 (21.1)
- Traffic accident – 35 (9.9)
- Sick person – 35 (9.9)
- Not entered – 31 (8.7)
- Breathing problems – 22 (6.2)
Of note are traffic accidents. They were down to 25 in 2020 from the prior year, or 6.8 percent of the calls, and that is not hard to explain, either. With the COVID pandemic forcing state and local shutdowns, persons traveled less frequently. Hence, accidents declined.
“I’m not so interested in the different numbers,” said the KAA’s chief of service Mike Haaga, “as I am in how many responses we have, how long it takes us to get there and how long it takes to get off the scene to the hospital.”
Of the other numbers, the most intriguing were calls made for persons who were unconscious or who had fainted. It dropped by over 50 percent. Where there were 11 in 2019, there were five a year later. Of equal interest is the drop in PEER (Police Emergency Evaluation Request) from one year to the other. There were nine in 2019 and four in 2020.
“The calls in the early months of the pandemic were down from last year,” said KAA president Dan O’Sullivan, “as people were cautious about going to the hospital. However, as the year went on, calls increased a fair amount over last year, with the total modestly higher.”
The KAA figures are recorded annually, with calls recorded electronically on patient care reports by EMTs on the scene.
Photo by Clark Judge.
