Ambulance Runs In Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory Equally Divided, Stats Show
WARSAW — Lutheran EMS made more than 900 ambulance runs in just the Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory during the first four months of 2019, with the total being divided almost equally between two subsections.
Lutheran EMS has ambulances stationed in Bourbon, Bremen, Leesburg, Milford and two serving the Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory. Combined, the ambulance service made 1,117 runs in the first four months of 2019, with 908 of those coming from the two districts within the Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory, according to statistics released by the fire territory at a monthly meeting Tuesday, June 4.
Last year, Lutheran shifted one of its two ambulances from its offices on the north side of Warsaw on SR 15 to the new Fire Station No. 3 on CR 300S — marking the first time the ambulance service and fire territory began sharing a facility with Warsaw area firefighters. The other ambulance is housed in a facility about a block from Fire Station No. 2 on Center Street in Warsaw.
Mayor Joe Thallemer said the equal division of coverage between the two ambulances in the fire territory shows the decision to shift and merge the ambulance into Fire Station No. 3 to the southern part of the township was a good move.
“This is bearing that out as far as I’m concerned,” Thallemer said.
WWFT Fire Chief Mike Wilson, who presented the statistics to the fire territory board, concurred about the shift to Station No. 3.
“When you talk to the medics that are working there … It’s advantageous to them being at that location instead of being up in town. The move to Station Three was very good,” Wilson said.
The statistics are the first to be incorporated into the WWFT monthly report. No representatives from Lutheran attended the meeting.
Lutheran EMS serves a large portion of Kosciusko County, but the boundaries for specific ambulances are complicated. Wilson outlined the jurisdictions this way: The ambulance at Station No. 3 covers the southern half of the city of Warsaw, goes south to a point south of Claypool and as far west to the county line, south of US 30. The east station — near Fire Station No. 2 — covers an area up to CR 200N and to the county line to the east and dips down into to the southeast corner as far south as CR 600S
The Lutheran EMS ambulance in Bourbon serves Etna Green and the northwest corner of the county west of SR 19, while ambulances in Leesburg and Milford cover much of the stretch along SR 15N, and areas to the west as far as SR 19. The communities of Syracuse and North Webster have their own ambulance service in the northeast corner.
Of the entire 1,117 runs, 73 percent involved transport and treatment. About 12 percent resulted in no treatment or transport. About 12 percent of the calls were canceled, according to statistics provided to the fire territory.
The Bourbon ambulance has made 12 runs through the first four months; Bremen, 2; Leesburg, 157; Milford, 38.