New Fla. Ambulance Station Could Get Commission Go-ahead
June 23--After seven years of delays, Collier County commissioners are expected Tuesday to finally green-light a new ambulance station near Golden Gate Estates.
The $1.5 million emergency medical services bay would open at the corner of Vanderbilt Beach Road and Logan Boulevard. It was first designed and scheduled to be built in 2008, but construction was delayed during the recession. The new station would serve and cut down response times east of Interstate 75, in a growing area of the county that has historically had some of the longest waits for ambulance rides in Collier County.
The station would house one ambulance with two paramedics on each shift who would cover the Estates, the Vineyards development and parts of North Naples and Big Corkscrew Island.
Emergency response officials expect the new crew to respond to at least 830 calls a year in that area -- a 12 percent jump from the 740 calls for service in 2013, said Collier County spokeswoman Kate Albers.
The proposed station would be the latest of ongoing efforts to cut the standard ambulance response time in eastern and rural parts of the county from 12 to 8 minutes. In January 2014, commissioners spent nearly $1 million adding staff and equipment to under served areas, including three medics and a quick response vehicle in Golden Gate Estates. Medical officials relocated several ambulances to keep up with growing call levels east of I-75 and on Marco Island.
Ambulance response times have fallen, county data shows. As of March, paramedics were getting to patients in parts of Golden Gate Estates within 8 minutes on 80 percent of calls this year -- up from just 51 percent of calls in 2014.
The six paramedics, ambulance and communication system that will run out of the new station were added by commissioners last spring and are being housed at a fire station on Vanderbilt Beach Road and U.S. 41, about six miles west of the proposed site. The county already owns the land and, as of April 14, emergency medical officials have gotten the proper building permits to start work. Commissioners set aside $1.6 million in this year's annual spending plan to build the station.
Albers couldn't say how long construction is expected to take. Emergency Medical Services Chief Walter Kopka declined to comment for this story.
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