Stratford EMS expanding to North End

CT Post |  By:Brittany Lyte, Staff Writer
Published 11:21 pm, Sunday, November 20, 2011
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EMT Domenic Juliano, left, and paramedic Steve Parise wait for a call Friday, Nov. 18, 2011 at the Oronoque Fire House in Stratford, Conn. Stratford Emergency Medical Services has begun stationing an ambulance at the Oronoque Fire House on a trial basis to shorten call times in the North End.

STRATFORD — On weekdays, North End residents in need of an ambulance won’t have to wait as long for its arrival.

Stratford Emergency Medical Services on Tuesday started stationing an ambulance at the Oronoque Fire House on a limited, trial basis.

EMS Chief Phil Onofrio said the new setup is designed to reduce the department’s response time when answering emergency calls in the town’s North End, where a high percentage of the department’s call volume exists.

“We did a special analysis study to see where our call volume density geographically exists,” Onofrio explained. “During the daytime we see an increase in call volume in the North End and typically responding from downtown with the traffic patterns and congestion at that time of day extends our response time.”

EMS headquarters, situated across from Town Hall on Main Street, is about five miles south of the fire house at 200 Oronoque Lane.

Already, the new setup there has seen positive results, Onofrio said.

“Our response times already for the last several calls that we’ve monitored in the North End have been approximately three minutes or less. So that’s fantastic. Our response time would be several minutes longer if we were responding to those calls from the main station,” he said.

For a trial period, an ambulance staffed by two EMS workers will continue to work out of the fire house on weekdays during business hours.

Onofrio said EMS could extend its presence at the fire house to weekends and evenings if the setup continues to be successful.

“So far, it’s working great,” Onofrio said. “There’s room at the fire house for us to operate and this gives us an opportunity to work even more closely with the Fire Department.”

Reach Brittany Lyte at blyte@ctpost.com or 203-330-6426. Follow at twitter.com/blyte