Thumbnail photo: Del Norte Ambulance is meeting the terms of its contract with Del Norte County, an analysis of the emergency medical system found. | Photo courtesy of Del Norte Ambulance Del Norte Ambulance is meeting the minimum requirements of its contract with the county, an assessment of the community’s emergency dispatch system found. This conclusion is contrary to what several local fire chiefs reported to the Board of Supervisors more than two years ago when it considered awarding the ambulance company sole operating rights in Del Norte. But the assessment, conducted by EndPoint EMS Consulting LLC, stated that the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office is unable to provide emergency medical dispatch services or provide data on 911 medical call reports. Response times to remote areas in the county often exceeded 30 minutes, and there was a lack of understanding and coordination between Del Norte Ambulance and fire department personnel. “There’s a lack of transparency and system oversight and a lack of trust,” EndPoint EMS consultant Nancy Lapolla told supervisors on Tuesday. “There needs to be [stronger] collaborative working relationships and there needs to be dynamic ambulance deployment especially in the more remote rural areas.” EndPoint’s analysis is posted on the North Coast Emergency Medical Services website. The joint powers authority that consists of Del Norte, Humboldt and Lake counties is also seeking comment, which will be included as an addendum, Lapolla said. EndPoint EMS’s findings prompted county supervisors Dean Wilson and Chris Howard to identify strengthening county dispatch as a “low-hanging fruit” they and their colleagues can address. Another discussion they said needs to happen includes figuring out how to work with the local volunteer agencies to provide emergency care to residents in Klamath or Gasquet while they wait for an ambulance. The Yurok Tribe and Del Norte Ambulance is working to address that. “[They] are putting a base in the Klamath area that will greatly reduce that [response] time,” Wilson said. “And there have also been talks about having training offered to tribal members interested in pursuing a medical career in becoming paramedic certified. If we can get more people trained and willing to provide emergency medical services, that’s going to be a benefit to the entire community down there.” EndPoint EMS Consulting’s analysis comes to the Board more than two-and-a-half years after supervisors favored a competitive process rather than grandfathering Del Norte Ambulance into an exclusive operating agreement. Del Norte’s contract with the county expires on June 30, 2027. In July 2024, the Board moved forward with a competitive bid process, authorizing staff to spend an amount not exceeding what it had in its emergency medical services fund to assist North Coast EMS with the process. Howard and Wilson dissented at the time, saying they didn’t want to damage the county’s relationship with Del Norte Ambulance. The assessment is part of a February 2025 contract EndPoint entered into with North Coast EMS. EndPoint is also tasked with developing a request for proposals and supporting North Coast EMS in procuring an ambulance provider for Del Norte. The consultant will also develop a contract with the highest-scoring provider, Lapolla said. The analysis of Del Norte’s EMS system includes input from 21 organizations and the results of an online survey that was sent to more than 94 individuals. According to Lapolla, the survey had a 64% response rate. “Stakeholders identified the system’s strengths were really collaboration and a strong community focus,” she said. “They appreciated the paramedic-level ambulance transport system, volunteer fire services and an emergency department that was active in participating in the EMS system.” However, stakeholders said radio communication between responders needed improvement as did dispatch services and ambulance availability and coverage. People were concerned about out-of-county transports, high turnover of EMS personnel on the ambulance as well as a lack of understanding and coordination between Del Norte Ambulance and fire agencies. “There’s a need to better understand the operational capabilities and limitations of each of the organizations,” Lapolla said. EndPoint EMS reviewed clinical data, Sutter Coast Hospital data, computer-aided dispatch data from Bay Cities Ambulance — which handles calls for Del Norte Ambulance — as well as reports from Del Norte Ambulance itself. According to the report, EndPoint had also asked the sheriff’s office for computer-aided dispatch data. The consultants didn’t receive that data, but they did observe the dispatch center during a busy time of the day. Dispatchers managed the calls quickly, transferring callers to Bay Cities Ambulance for further questioning and pre-arrival instructions. To determine where most of the calls for service were coming from, EndPoint partnered with WayPoint Geospatial LLC. EndPoint analyzed two years of 911 calls in 2023 and 2024, according to Lapolla’s partner John Eaglesham. According to the report, Del Norte Ambulances responded to 4,809 calls for service in 2023. The ambulance provider conducted 3,667 while 1,142 calls were cancelled. In 2024, Del Norte Ambulance responded to 4,546 calls for service, conducted 3,410 transports and received 1,136 canceled calls. Most calls for service came from Crescent City and the surrounding area, Pelican Bay State Prison and the Bertsch-Oceanview area. “Emergency medical calls were responded to in 10 minutes or less in the more populated community groups in the county,” Eaglesham told supervisors. “In less populated areas, [response time] turns to 15 minutes, to 30 minutes and in the Klamath area, you see less than 45 minutes a majority of the time.” Under the terms of its agreement with the county, Del Norte Ambulance is required to keep at least three ambulances on the schedule with one stationed in the Crescent City area and two able to maintain advanced life support. According to EndPoint, Del Norte Ambulance is complying with this requirement. Del Norte Ambulance is also required to maintain a chute time — the time it takes to begin traveling to a call — within one minute between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. and within two minutes between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m. Del Norte Ambulance met this standard 85% of the time, EndPoint stated. EndPoint’s analysis mentions the possibility of Del Norte Ambulance stationing a fourth ambulance in the Klamath area. “The county, Yurok Tribe and DNA have been in discussions and have identified a location on tribal property for an ambulance station on a one-year trial basis,” the report states. “If this property can be secured, it will provide enhanced coverage to the Klamath area and south county.” The report calls for maintaining an emergency medical dispatch system and states that Del Norte County should include response time requirements of 10 minutes for the Crescent City and Bertsch-Oceanview areas; 15 minutes for Fort Dick and Pelican Bay State Prison; 30 minutes for Smith River; and 40 minutes for Gasquet, Hiouchi and Klamath. Del Norte Ambulance has operated since the mid 1970s and in 2022 asked the Board of Supervisors for their support in being grandfathered into an exclusive operating agreement. In a March 15, 2022 Wild Rivers Outpost article, then-DNA General Manager John Pritchett, cited California Health and Safety Code 1797.200, which states that emergency medical services can forgo seeking competitive bids for an exclusive operating agreement if they’ve been in continual business since 1981. On Tuesday, Del Norte Ambulance Operations Manager Charles Tweed read a letter from the company’s president Ron Sandler, urging the Board to re-think its stance on the competitive bid process. Sandler is a member of the Sutter Coast Hospital Board of Directors, Tweed told supervisors, though he was not speaking on the hospital’s behalf. “We urge you to reconsider the grandfathering of the EOA ambulance service so we can begin making vital improvements now, not two or three years from now,” Sandler said. cfbdea14-ebd2-4787-a3a3-f5dcb403e166Download