Last year was a busy year for Warren County EMS.
“Did we reach 8,000 runs?” asked Commissioner Ron Lee.
Warren County EMS director Preston Denney replied, “Not quite, but close. We had 7,997 run numbers issued.”
A yearly EMS review was given to members of the county Safety Committee. Denney explained the number of ambulances responding to calls is actually greater than the number of runs.
“If we have one call and there are two to three ambulances there, only one run number is issued,” said Denney. “We may have three trucks that respond and we may transport six patients, but we only get one run number. As far as actual calls, there were more like 8,200 or 8,300 as far as with the calls.”
The number of hospital transfers, patients transported from Saint Thomas River Park to other hospitals, was down.
“A lot of that was due to COVID,” said Denney. “Hospitals were full and not accepting additional patients. We were at 1,487 hospital transfers for the year. The year prior, I think we were around 1,800.”
Of the transfers from Saint Thomas River Park to other hospitals, 560 were to Saint Thomas Rutherford.
“The large portion of our transfers were to Saint Thomas Rutherford,” said Denney. “That helped us out a lot. Saint Thomas Rutherford is half the distance and half the time versus going to Nashville.”
Among the 13 hospitals receiving patients courtesy of a Warren County transport: Saint Thomas West had 326, Saint Thomas Midtown had 209 and Vanderbilt Adult had 115.
“I would think as many veterans as we have that you’d be going to the VA more,” said Commissioner Randy England.
Seven transports were made to the VA in Murfreesboro, and four to the VA in Nashville.
“Very rarely do we go to the VA,” said Denney. “The reason being is that the VA in Murfreesboro is mainly mental health. The one in Nashville stays so full. A lot of times, when we have a VA patient, we end up taking them to Saint Thomas West.”
In other numbers presented for 2020, the department logged 5,011 calls for medical assistance through E-911, provided 1,311 medical transports, and ambulances were placed on standby 51 times.
