Collaboration between Austintown and Lane cutting response times

AUSTINTOWN

Response times are down across the township as a collaboration between the Austintown Fire Department and Lane LifeTrans continues a year after its start.

“It’s worked out better than we hoped for,” said fire Chief Andy Frost III. “It’s cut down our response time everywhere. ... Our whole township’s response times.”

Randall Pugh, vice president of Lane, said the response time in Austintown is about five minutes right now. There are two other ambulances that sit in Austintown, as well as the third housed at Austintown Fire Station No. 1 off state Route 46.

According to Vindicator files, the first call of the collaboration was 8 a.m. Jan. 4, 2014. Pugh provided a breakdown of calls. The ambulance had 1,876 medical calls — the highest in one month was 181 in August — and had 1,402 transports.

Pugh said they were hopeful for three calls a day, which they did a little better than at about 3.6.

“Austintown has a decent call number, so putting [an ambulance] here pays for itself,” Pugh explained, noting Lane is a private entity.

With Lane being stationed at fire station No. 1, personnel have been able to assist in more than just medical situations. There was a barn fire Tuesday on Lou Ida Drive, which the Lane ambulance assisted since the call was handled by its station.

“It’s nice working with a fire department, having an extra set of hands. ... Same crew, same shift,” said Ryan Caron, a Lane paramedic.

Pugh said the Lane ambulance stationed at the Austintown firehouse had 186 lift assists in 2014 for elderly residents that had fallen.

Read more about the teamwork in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.