IPMBA News

Old Town bike EMTs ease 911 call crush

By Jason Pohl, The Coloradan, September 19, 2016

(Photo: Austin Humphreys/The Coloradoan)

They stage with their yellow vests and bicycles outfitted with medical bags at Trimble Court, waiting for someone to over-estimate their alcohol tolerance at Old Town's bars. They pedal across downtown Fort Collins at midnight to reports of arguments-turned-fisticuffs, occasionally spotting someone seeking medical help around District 1.

Bike EMTs are the latest effort to reduce surging 911 call loads in downtown Fort Collins, and organizers say it seems to be helping.

Poudre Valley Hospital EMS this summer partnered with Fort Collins police to refocus and redeploy its Bicycle Emergency Response Team, or BERT. Composed of 36 EMTs and paramedics who split up Friday and Saturday night work shifts, organizers say the teams respond quicker to patients in and around downtown, simultaneously keeping fully-stocked ambulances ready for life-threatening emergencies.

"Some weekends it's just busy busy busy and we'll be running out of ambulances," said Blake Moyer, an EMT and BERT coordinator.

Similar to law enforcement, EMS planners continually revise how and where to staff medical personnel across the city, increasing the number of responders at peak times and decreasing numbers during lulls. But in a growing city like Fort Collins, where the system can sporadically get slammed with 911 calls, the bike EMTs can sometimes handle calls that needn't require such a heavy response.

"It was hard to predict," Moyer said. "So we identified with the police department that there was a need to have additional resources dedicated to the downtown area."

The PVH EMS teams work from 9 p.m. to  3 a.m. twice a week. In August, they responded to 33 incidents, eight of which resulted in patients being transported by ambulance to area hospitals — a process made smoother since responders can be on scene faster and already working with patients, Moyer said.

Thirteen others were classified as patient refusals, meaning they were well enough to decline hospitalization. Twelve responses were for potential patients that resulted in there not actually being patients. Those false calls happen with some regularity and result in 911 calls that prompt PVH EMS and Poudre Fire Authority responses.

The bike EMT responses this summer kept a 911 advanced life-support ambulance — what would normally be dispatched — in the system about 80 percent of the time, Moyer said.

More efficient pedal-powered EMS is nothing new in Fort Collins.

Six years ago, PVH EMS rebranded its bike program but generally only worked major events like bike races or tailgating ahead of Colorado State University home games. The EMTs wanted to do more to blend cycling and medicine, so they put the program back to the drawing board.

The revamped arrangement hit the streets this summer. Now, bike EMTs go in with a first-responder mindset able to handle basic emergencies, assess the situation, treat patients as they're able and call for help if needed.

"We know what we carry and we know what our capacities are," Moyer said.

The program is slated to last through mid-November, depending on how quickly winter settles into Northern Colorado. Moyer said they are looking to expand the number of nights the team works and grow the number of EMTs who are stationed downtown.

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