Submitted by the San Juan County Hospital District No. 1.
While San Juan Island EMS’s call volume represents only a fraction of the 37 million aid calls in the United States each year, we are proud to report that our annual statistics for 2022 reflect the high quality of care we strive to provide to every patient who calls for our aid.
San Juan Island EMS employs six Paramedics and seven EMTs (Emergency Medical Technicians) full-time who are supported by over twenty agency volunteers. In 2022, San Juan Island EMS responded to a total of 1,159 aid calls, a 9% increase from 2021. Each call in 2022 had an average of three first responders from San Juan Island EMS.
The average chute time was 2:00 minutes (this is the time it takes to do a safety check, find the location, and go in-route to the destination). The total response time to the destination, including the chute time, was 8:52. The average total call time, which includes time to the scene, time at scene, and time to transport the patient to the hospital was 50:52.
Statistics for 2022 are not the only metric that show the high-quality of care we provided to our community in 2022. Surveys from patients suggest that community members and visitors on San Juan Island believe we do a good job as well. 96.62% of patients who completed our survey stated that they were satisfied with our care. Additionally, San Juan Island EMS was ranked as 98.33/100 for care provided during transport.
Assistant Chief Bishop noted that, “Despite the rural and isolated aspects of living on the islands, our response times meet or exceed national guidelines. We have made system changes in 2023 to make this even more efficient. We are also privileged to have over 100 years of Paramedic experience to give you the most progressive, state-of-the-art care possible. We have high cardiac arrest survival rates and over 98% compliance with our medical and trauma key performance indicators.”
We are grateful to be able to report such positive metrics for 2022 and are looking forward to serving the community in 2023!
San Juan County Public Hospital District #1 operates San Juan Island EMS and Village at the Harbor. The District pays a large subsidy to support PeaceHealth Peace Island Medical Center.
