By james art Paramedic Mike Chutz lives in West Baton Rouge Parish, and for 28 years his career in emergency medical services meant he had to travel across the river to work because the parish didn’t have its own ambulances.
Now his commute is shorter, and so is emergency response time in West Baton Rouge. This month, the parish launched a local ambulance service, with Chustz at the helm as EMS chief, to ensure patients who need emergency medical care get it faster.
“They don’t have much time before they die if they stop breathing,” Chutz said. “So we’re trying to get that intervention done as quickly as possible.”
Before the service began, parish residents relied on the West Baton Rouge Fire Department, ambulances from neighboring parishes or the private Acadian Ambulance Service to respond to emergency calls.
The parish’s response time was too long, sometimes approaching 40 minutes, Chutz said. The current provider is doing the best it can, he added, but West Baton Rouge needed its own ambulances strategically located throughout the parish.
The difference in minutes can improve or decrease the chances of survival. Getting a patient to a trauma center within one hour of injury, called the golden hour, is critical.
“A lot of times we get into car accidents and people aren’t seriously injured, which is great, but in a real emergency, time is very, very important,” Chutz said.
A West Baton Rouge Fire Department M2 Medical Unit stands in full gear outside Station 21 on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Brusley, Louisiana.
Ambulance operations will not increase local taxes. The West Baton Rouge Fire Department and Parish Council secured grants totaling $950,000 toward the initial cost of four ambulances and equipment such as CPR and stretchers.
The service will bill patients’ insurance. Baton Rouge General and Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center will see the majority of patients, Chutz said.
Saving time and lives
Ambulances will be manned by firefighters trained as emergency responders, as well as specialist emergency responders and paramedics. The fire department is hiring for all of these positions.
The additional assistants will make it possible for the department to operate three full-time ambulances in the parish. One ambulance is currently operating. Chustz expects the second ambulance to begin serving residents in the next few weeks, with the third to follow soon after.
“I know most of the people we hire,” Chutz said. “They’re all experienced and they’re all good medics, so I think we’re going to have a great service when we get it going.”
Mike Chutz, Chief of Emergency Medical Services, closes the back doors of the West Baton Rouge Fire Department’s M2 Medical Unit on Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in Brusley, Louisiana.
Local ambulances will reduce response times to 10 minutes or less, according to the West Baton Rouge Bulletin. Previously, traffic and trains contributed to high response times, but the new ambulances will be located so that the Erwinville, Port Allen and Brusly/Addis areas have reliable access to EMS 24 hours a day.
Chustz said this is the first opportunity in nearly three decades of his career to work where he lives. He came out of retirement last November to lead the program.
“I’ve been an emergency physician for a long time; I have worked in almost every aspect of EMS,” Chustz said. “If somebody was going to start an emergency medical service in West Baton Rouge Parish, where I live, I wanted to be a part of it.”