Vehicle Collision Rescue Delivery Project

CALIFORNIA

PROJECT CHARACTERISTICS PROGRAM AREA(S)
  Easy-to-replicate   Emergency Medical Services
  Targets hard-to-reach/at risk population    
       
TYPE OF JURISDICTION    
  City    
       
TARGETED POPULATION(S) JURISDICTION SIZE
  General Population 40,000


PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
Approximately 50 percent of all motor vehicle collisions in Kings County, California have historically occurred in the City of Hanford, for which the Hanford Fire Department (HFD) provides emergency medical and rescue services. Although the HFD provided good quality emergency medical care for persons injured in highway crashes, the Department was concerned about obstacles to timely response, such as adverse weather, distance of equipment from the crash, frequent railroad crossings, and "mutual aid" requests from outside the city.


GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) professionals use a term, Golden Hour, to refer to the most opportune period of time following a crash during which a victim can be extricated and delivered to a trauma center, while dramatically increasing the victim's chances of surviving. The goal of the Vehicle Collision Rescue Delivery project was improvement of the Hanford Fire Department's EMS and response time, thereby improving the likelihood of emergency care for crash victims during the Golden Hour. Objectives of the project included:


STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES
In September 1996, the Hanford Fire Department obtained endorsement from the Hanford City Council to use Section 402 funds, provided through the California Office of Traffic Safety, to develop the Vehicle Collision Rescue Delivery Project, which would help give new direction to the city's existing safety program. Some of the strategies and activities used by the HFD included:

 

RESULTS
The Hanford Fire Department maintains response data on the Vehicle Collision Rescue Delivery Project, reporting quarterly to the State of California, Office of Traffic Safety. Although EMS responses for the HFD have increased by 67 percent from the base year through the first quarter of the second grant year, the average response time from arrival at the crash site to definitive care decreased during that same time by nearly 10 percent. Data collected prior to the base year revealed response times that frequently exceeded 200 percent above the average maintained since project implementation.

In addition, five public education events have been conducted for approximately 1,200 residents of Hanford, during which exhibitions on the use of Jaws of Life equipment were featured.

 

FUNDING
  Section 402:

$28,527

CONTACT  
  Pat Morris, Chief
Hanford Fire Department
350 W. Grangeville Building
Hanford, CA 93230
(209) 585–2545


National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Spring 1998