D.C. tries new EMS dispatch pilot program

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - A new pilot program has District ambulances returning to their stations after a hospital drop to avoid saturating downtown with first responders.

The revamped dispatch system is one of several tactics employed recently by D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services to cut response times and more efficiently deploy units, officials said Friday during a meeting of the Friendship Heights Public Safety Committee.

A majority of D.C. hospitals are located in relative proximity to the National Mall, leading most advanced and basic life support units to George Washington University, Children’s National Medical Center, Washington Hospital Center and Howard University in the case of emergency transport.

Because District dispatchers have historically rerouted ambulances to the nearest call the moment they leave the hospital, there’s a tendency for EMTs to cluster near downtown, officials said Friday. But a new pilot program has ambulances returning to their stations before taking on another assignment.

“We are attempting to deploy resources appropriately,” said Dr. Michael Williams, EMS medical director.

The test is initially focused in Southeast, but could be expanded later if results show a more efficient system.

Anne Renshaw, chair of the Friendship Heights committee, said her community has demanded this type of dispatch for years, where the units that “started here either stay here or return here.” EMS been a particularly thorny issue citywide since New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum was beaten to death near his far Northwest home earlier this year, and the emergency teams botched the response.

Renshaw relayed the story of a woman who slipped on a Wisconsin Avenue street grate and fell on her face. A local business owner called for help, and the ambulance, she said, arrived 47 minutes later.

“I want to take back to that business today some reassurance that that isn’t going to happen again,” Renshaw said.

mneibauer@dcexaminer.com