WAUPUN — The City of Waupun and Waupun Fire Department are looking to expand the Emergency Responder program to meet increased community needs.
Last month, two callers experienced a significant delay in emergency response times due to responders being busy with others calls. The City of Waupun currently contracts two ambulances from Lifestar Ambulance.
“These missed ambulance calls are happening more often, and this is why we started the EMR program,” Mayor Bishop said in a press release. “I think Waupun is very likely looking at an EMT Ambulance service to be operated out of our Waupun Fire and Rescue Department.”
While no decisions have been made so far, Mayor Bishop expressed the City’s need for community feedback on the matter.
The following are the reports from the Fire Department regarding the two incidents, provided by Fire Chief and EMR Director BJ DeMaa.
Incident 1: On Tuesday, April 25, 4 9-1-1 calls came in throughout the course of the day before the coverage incident occurred.
At 20:22 p.m., unit 203 was dispatched for a motor vehicle accident in the Town of Waupun. 4 minutes later, at 22:26, another call came in for an individual having a seizure in the City of Waupun. Unit 203 requested that the Beaver Dam Fire Department be paged. Waupun First Responders arrived on scene, made contact with the patient, and began providing care. Call response was delayed by 21 minutes as contracted ambulance provider did not have second unit available. CAD information does not indicate the 2nd contracted ambulance was out on any other calls since 09:51 a.m. so it is unknown where the second contracted ambulance was. Waupun EMRs provided care for 17 minutes prior to the arrival of an ambulance.
Incident 2: On Wednesday, April 26, 2 9-1-1 calls came in throughout the course of the day before the coverage incident occurred.
At 13:36 p.m., unit 202 was dispatched for a patient with difficulty breathing in the City of Waupun. 32 minutes later, at 14:08, another call came in for an individual with severe back pain in the City of Waupun. Unit 202 notified dispatch they would be taking the second call as soon as the cleared the hospital on the first call. Call response was delayed by 7 minutes as contracted ambulance provider did not have second unit available. CAD information does not indicate the 2nd contracted ambulance was out on any other calls so it is unknown where the second contracted ambulance was.
