Calls For Service Increase, Setting New Standard For Ambulance District

The Ste. Genevieve County Ambulance District had more calls for service in 2019 than any other year in its history.

Ambulance district director Kendall Shrum reported to the board during its January 16 meeting that the district had 2,443 calls in 2019, setting a new record for the second consecutive year.

In 2018, the total was 2,317, breaking the 2015 record of 2,245.

Shrum shared 10 years worth of figures. The district first topped the 2,000-call mark in 2010, with 2,004, and topped the 2,200 plateau for the first time in 2014, with 2,232.

“So it continues to kind of inch upward,” Shrum said. “We’d rather see that 50 to 70 call growth per year. We don’t want to see a 200 or 300 call growth because it’s harder to manage the growth — plus we don’t want to wish anything bad on the citizens of the county.”

He said the figures over the years “look fairly stable and consistent.”

In his monthly report on the number of service calls for the district, Shrum reported 227 total calls in December, up from 206 in the same month for 2018 and 193 in 2017.

Of  those 227 calls, 168 were emergencies, up from 141 a year ago and 143 two years ago. There were 56 transfers compared to 63 in 2018 and 48 two years ago.

See complete story in the January 22 edition of the Herald.