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Fly-Car System Responds To More Than 80 Calls Since Rollout

Chautauqua County’s Emergency Medical Services Program, or fly-car system, has responded to more than 80 calls since going into service in early August. P-J photo by Jimmy McCarthy

Paramedics who comprise Chautauqua County’s Emergency Medical Services Program, or fly-car system, have been busy since going into full service in early August.

The county emergency service response operates Monday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Since the system’s unveiling, Mike Volpe, county senior paramedic, said fly-cars have responded to more than 80 calls.

“Things have been moving along very well,” Volpe said. “We seem to be delivering service in a reasonable amount of time.”

Three full-time and six part-time paramedics operate three advanced life support vehicles, which are stationed in Ashville, Arkwright and Gerry.

Kevin Peebles, project coordinator, and Volpe operate a vehicle stationed in Mayville to bring the number of fly-cars to four. The fly-car system initiated on a small scale in the Mayville area with the hiring of Peebles and Volpe earlier in the year.

Fly-cars are equipped with cardiac monitoring equipment, pain medication and anticonvulsant medication, among other equipment.

Volpe said vehicles are positioned in the right place to respond to calls in rural areas and the metro area, if needed.

“We’re moving around and we have sub-staging points where we can move up closer to the city (of Jamestown) on the north side and south side if Alstar is out of service,” he said. “We’re able to provide service to residents of the county, which is great.”

The fly-car system was established to provide swift response to 911 calls while supporting volunteer fire service and Alstar EMS. Volpe noted that response times have been brisk.

“We’re getting out the door fairly quick,” he said. “We’ve handled everything from a simple transport to a cardiac arrest situation. Essentially, everything has had fairly good outcomes.”

Tim Carlson is one of the fly-car paramedics who’s stationed in Gerry. Carlson has been a paramedic for more than six years. He said things have been functioning smoothly.

“The calls are generally pretty severe,” he said. “It’s good that we’re there to really make a positive impact on them. We’ve done some life-savings things with the volunteers.”

For years, the fly-car concept was discussed as the number of volunteer EMTs decreased and the flow of emergency calls increased. A study conducted by a Massachusetts firm last year bore the issue out and recommended a county-sponsored emergency response program to assist volunteer responders and commercial response. The County Legislature approved a fly-car system in last year’s budget.

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