AMHERST — Amherst Fire Department paramedics went on fewer emergency runs in the second half of 2018, a significant drop in volume being attributed mostly to Hadley beginning its own ambulance service in late June.
But Fire Chief Walter “Tim” Nelson said even with the significant 22 percent decline in calls, from the 2,718 handled between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2017 to the 2,108 completed between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2018, there is still stress on his personnel.
“We’re not at a level that we can take a breath,” Nelson said.
Nelson said no longer having to handle medical calls in Hadley, which since June 29 have been performed by Action EMS, brings the Amherst department to around the call volume of 2013.
“Losing Hadley puts us back to where we were five years ago, and five years ago we were still under the gun. We weren’t keeping up based on pace of growth in calls,” Nelson said.
The decrease in overall medical calls also comes with a decline in calls related to substance abuse, those that are triggered by use of alcohol or drugs.
Though substance abuse still made up more than 10 percent of calls in both fall 2017 and fall 2018, the 283 in summer and fall 2017 fell to 225 in summer and fall 2018.
There was a 23.5 percent drop in substance abuse calls at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst College and Hampshire College campuses, from 132 to 101, and a smaller 18 percent dip in off-campus substance abuse calls, from 151 to 124.
Nelson said he will get a better feel for how losing Hadley will affect run totals after a full year. The department still handles medical emergency calls in Shutesbury, Pelham and Leverett, but historically most medical calls are in Amherst.
An increasingly transient population and events and activities on the campuses over the summer, which has made Amherst busier even when UMass and the colleges are not in session, have added calls for the department.
“The growth we’ve seen is in Amherst,” Nelson said.
In fact, Nelson anticipates call volume will return to pre-2018 levels within three years due to this steady growth.
Nelson said it is a fallacy to blame college students for increasing the number of ambulances out on the road, observing that the main driver is general medical needs and trauma, which account for about 60 percent of all calls. The average age of residents is also going up, and with it will come the need for responses.
“We have a significant elder population in town and they have more medical issues,” Nelson said.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
