Jerome Ozog, of Jerome Ozog Enterprises, LLC, is a well-respected figure within the emergency-response world. On Thursday, June 20, he spoke to Warren County’s first responders.

Ozog was invited to evaluate and make recommendations on the current EMS system within the county.

Pennsylvania Act 37 was enacted in 2009 and implemented in 2014. It resulted in the requirement that EMS agencies provide 24/7 coverage. However, Warren County only has 10 independent Basic Life Support (BLS) services and one Advanced Life Support (ALS) service.

Under the current Warren County Collaborative EMS Response Plan, implemented in 2017, if a BLS agency is unable to respond during a given time of day, the agency is to notify the 9-1-1 Center ahead of time, so a designated backup agency can be dispatched in its place.

“When the plan is followed, things go smooth. When it goes wrong is when agencies do not notify the 9-1-1 Center,” said Ken McCorrison, director of the Department of Public Safety in Warren County.

A drop in the system was revealed in the final numbers for 2017 and 2018.

As of June 2018, numbers showed that EMS providers in Warren County were able to respond within the standard response time–10 minutes– only 54% of the time. Numbers also revealed that 21% of calls were dropped altogether.

Ozog shared plans to help Warren County come up with a collective solution.

He plans to send out online surveys to EMS providers, fire departments, and local and county government agencies. The end goal would be to allow for unbiased, yet confidential, input.

Ozog will also travel to six identified regions in the county to interview leadership from each municipality’s BLS and other key organizations. He asks that those elected to speak with him come to the table with their solutions.

Finally, after evaluating all the information gathered from surveys and interviews, Ozog will make a recommendation to Council of Governments (COG) on a structure that can be used to implement strategies and ensure more rapid response times.

Ozog hopes to have everything finalized within the next three to four months.

“I am an individual, I am not tied to any organization or have any particular agenda,” said Ozog. “The number-one thing is when someone needs help, they get it in a reasonable time frame from people who are properly trained and can get them to a facility.”

Some of the main concerns presented are two that tie hand in hand: the reality of not only a declining population but also one that is aging and lacking volunteers.

EMS calls will only go up as the community continues to get older.

Not only is the general population aging, so are the volunteers.

The most recent EMS training class offered was the first to be filled in the past 10 to 15 years. Even then, young trainees are using it as a stepping stone and leaving to further themselves in a medical or paramedic career; they are not staying to volunteer within the community.

People volunteer to help those in need, and according to Ozog, the upcoming millennial generation is less interested in giving back to the community.

“EMS is not all about the money,” said Ozog. “It’s ‘can you handle going out at three in the morning and someone throwing up on you? Can you see the worst in people’s lives? Can you see the death and destruction and continue doing it?'”

The community must be in cooperation to come up with an effective solution, he said.

“We need 100% cooperation, 100% of the time,” said Ozog. “We can’t fix anything if we don’t become proactive instead of reactive. If you think you can just keep doing the same thing, it’s not going to work.”