Thursday, April 20, 2023
Annual Fire Department Emergency Medical
Services Report
Public Safety, Finance and Strategic Support Committee
April 20, 2023
Item (d)1
Presented by:
Patrick Chung, Battalion Chief
Scott Coscarelli, Deputy Fire Chief
First Responders – Basic and Advance Life Support
2 Basic Life Support (BLS)
Emergency Medical Technicians
(EMTs)
Advanced Life Support (ALS)
Paramedics
(PMs)
ACETAMINOPHEN
ACTIVATED
CHARCOAL
ADENOSINE
ALBUTEROL
AMIODARONE
ATROPINE
DEXTROSE
EPINEPHRINE
GLUCAGON
LIDOCANE
MIDAZOLAM
MORPHINE
NALOXONE
NITROGLYCERINE
NORMAL SALINE
ONDANSETRON
ORAL GLUCOSE
SODIUM BICARB
Thursday, April 20, 2023
First Responder EMS Protocol for ALS Services
3 Thursday, April 20, 2023
9-1-1 request is
received for
medical emergency
services
Fire & Ambulance
dispatched for
Advance Life
Support services
Firefighter/
Paramedic arrives
and provides
treatment
Firefighter/Paramedic
retains patient care for
exigent transport to
Emergency
Department
Transfers care to
Ambulance for
transport to
Emergency
Department
Rescue Medics & Public Access Defibrillators
4 Thursday, April 20, 2023
Rescue Medics
• 3 Rescue Medics in the Fire Department
• 1 Fire Engineer & 1 Firefighter/Paramedic
• Ability to transport patients in specific
circumstances
Public Access Defibrillators
• 236 AEDs located at 96 City facilities
throughout San José
• Contracted vendor inspects,
maintains, and trains City employees
for use.
City & Countywide Ambulance Call Volume
Fiscal Year 2017-2018 to Fiscal Year 2021-2022
5 Thursday, April 20, 2023
92,587 91,900 91,595 94,784 103,145
123,478 124,394
116,647
125,918
133,354
57,935 57,800 56,454 57,125 63,132
0 40,000
80,000
120,000
160,000
2017-2018 2018-2019 2019-2020 2020-2021 2021-2022
FISCAL YEAR
SJFD Call Volume County Ambulance EMS Response SJFD EMS Call Volume • Steady increase of Department
EMS service by 10%
• Attributable trends for
increasing EMS service
demands:
• Aging Population
• Unhoused Population
EMS Responses and San José Unhoused Population
6 Thursday, April 20, 2023
• 53% increase over 5-years
• 10% of total EMS Responses in
Fiscal Year 2021-2022
• Top health conditions reported:
• Psychiatric/Emotional (41%)
• Drug/Alcohol Abuse (40%)
• Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder (32%)
-
5,092 5,356
6,291 6,480
4,350
6,097
6,650
0 2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
2017-2018 2018-2019 2019-2020 2020-2021 2021-2022
Unhoused Medical Unhoused Count
Major Observations on Patient Primary Impressions
7 Thursday, April 20, 2023
Patient Assessments FY 17-18 FY 18-19 FY 19-20 FY 20-21 FY 21-22 Traumatic Injury 8,751 8,978 8,252 7,701 9,259
General Weakness 3,580 3,545 3,355 3,886 4,387
Respiratory Distress 2,940 3,291 3,476 3,807 4,201
Abdominal Pain / Problems 2,892 2,776 2,743 3,156 3,521 No Medical Complaint / Findings 3,849 3,839 3,648 3,194 3,171 Behavioral/Psychiatric Crisis /
Excited Delirium 2,194 2,395 2,282 2,564 2,785
Altered Level of Consciousness
(Not Hypoglycemia or Seizure) 2,193 2,082 2,274 2,591 2,617 Alcohol Intoxication / Overdose 2,375 2,436 2,411 2,274 2,488 Non-Traumatic Body Pain 1,764 2,234 2,132 2,315 2,473
Chest Pain / Dysrhythmia /
Hypertension 2,046 2,027 1,965 1,861 2,210
Trauma and Cardiac-Related Emergencies
8 Thursday, April 20, 2023
County Ambulance Impacts to the Fire Department
9 Thursday, April 20, 2023
0 20
40 60
80 100
0 200
400
600
800
1,000
Jan
2022
Feb
2022
Mar
2022
Apr
2022
May
2022
Jun
2022
Jul
2022
Aug
2022
Sept
2022
Oct
2022
Nov
2022
Dec
2022
Jan
2023
BLS Ambulance Escorts
Late Response
BLS Escorts Late Responses
BLS Ambulance Escorts
and Late Responses
• Decreasing ambulance availability
leads to increased deployment of
Basic Life Support (BLS) resources
to mitigate service disruption
• Firefighter/Paramedic accompanies
a patient to provide the highest
level of patient care
• Department emergency response
company is “out of service” or “inservice BLS”
County Ambulance Impacts to the Fire Department
10 Thursday, April 20, 2023
0 20
40 60
80 100
120
0 200
400
600
800
1,000
Jan
2022
Feb
2022
Mar
2022
Apr
2022
May
2022
Jun
2022
Jul
2022
Aug
2022
Sept
2022
Oct
2022
Nov
2022
Dec
2022
Jan
2023
Rescue Medic Transports
Late Responses
Rescue Medic Transports Late Responses
Rescue Medic Transports
and Late Responses
• Rescue Medics provide
emergency patient transport in
situations where the County
ambulance provider is
unavailable
• Correlation seen in deployment
and increased late responses
9-1-1 Referral Process
11 Thursday, April 20, 2023
12 Thursday, April 20, 2023
Questions?
Patrick Chung, Battalion Chief
Bureau of EMS and Training
Scott Coscarelli, Deputy Fire Chief
Bureau of EMS and Training
Annual Fire Department Emergency Medical Services Report Public Safety, Finance and Strategic Support Committee
PSFSS Meeting April 20, 2023
Item (d) 1