Emergency Officials: Register article misleading; local response times are fine

 RED OAK — A Des Moines Register article collaring Montgomery County with the slowest emergency response time in Iowa sparked a rather fast reaction from local officials. 

Matt Jones, Montgomery County Emergency Management Service President, called the response time data published in the July 13 edition of the Register “misleading and flawed.”

“[The story] does not represent the service that is being provided to Montgomery County or any other geographical area throughout the state,” Jones stated in a press release issued last week. “The Montgomery County EMS association is a collaboration of all EMS agencies within the county and work diligently to provide the  highest level of service for the residents and visitors of the area.”

The Register analyzed response time statistics from 48 out of 99 Iowa counties and reported 10 of those counties needed more than 10 minutes on average to respond to an emergency call.

The Register also pointed out that Montgomery County was the worst of the worst with an average of 19.7 minutes. “That (is) … significantly longer than any of the other 47 counties,” the Register noted. 

However, the Register’s article quickly conceded the fallacies of its statistical data, starting with having response times from less than half of the counties in Iowa. 

The information reported in the article came from the Iowa Bureau of EMS. However, under current state law, the bureau can only disclose averages for counties with at least five EMS agencies. 

Montgomery County has precisely five. Including the Red Oak Fire Department, the Villisca, Stanton, Elliott and Grant fire departments are also EMS certified. 

However, as Jones stated, the criteria used for defining “response time” also varies. 

“Response time can be calculated in a variety of ways because there is no statewide standards established for reporting data,” he said. “Does response time mean the time the agency is dispatched until the ambulance is out the door or does it mean at the patient’s side? Definition alone stands to show how this data could be flawed.”

Red Oak Fire Chief James Blount said Montgomery County’s time is measured as the time between when the call comes into the 911 center and when an ambulance arrives on site. However, he said that doesn’t mean the patient is without care. 

“In Villisca, or Grant, we have EMTs in each town who could be sitting there at the patient’s side providing immediate care from within the first minute or two of the call coming in,” Blount said. “But with those towns so far away from Red Oak, it might be 20-25 minutes before an actual ambulance arrives.”

Blount is confident in the level of care provided in Montgomery County. 

“In my opinion, all of Montgomery County can take great pride in the service they provide,” he said. “I believe Montgomery County does an outstanding job and provides exceptional service.”

Blount also advocates for revised legislation that would require all counties to provide response time information, while also standardizing the measuring criteria. 

“In our industry transparency is key. If you have a question, we are going to provide you an answer, or at least we should,” Blount said.