An Auto Injury Every 6 Hours: What Ulster County’s EMS Data Tells Us About Local Personal Injuries

One of the most important points of emphasis in our communities, whether in cities or large towns like Kingston, Saugerties and New Paltz, or more rural areas like Shandaken or Wawarsing, is the operation of our emergency medical services and ambulances.

Our communities’ EMS workers are often the first on the scene of major accidents, crashes, slip and falls, other serious injuries for Ulster County residents. In addition to administering care, diagnosing injuries, and transporting people to the nearest medical facility, EMS and paramedic teams provide an important building block to the full recovery of the victim: creating a record of what happened, who was hurt, and what the condition of the patient is immediately after the accident.

The reporting of the EMS or paramedic team can help build a successful case for the full recovery of damages by the victim; information like the time of the call, the time of arrival of the paramedic team, statements on the scene, the vitals of the victim, and the time they were sent to the emergency room or medical facility all can be vital.

If you’ve been injured in Ulster County due to the negligence of another party, give us a call at 845-600-0000 to schedule a free consultation at our personal injury law office in Kingston, NY.

In this blog post, we’re going to take a deep dive into a 2024 EMS Services Delivery Report for Ulster County, NY that was prepared by the Center for Public Safety Management.

1. Kinds of EMS Calls in Ulster County

The thing we’re going to look at are the kinds of EMS calls in Ulster County.

Falls and injuries, such as slip and falls, make up one fifth of all EMS responses in Ulster County. An additional 6%, or 1,455 total ambulance calls are made in response to motor vehicle accidents in Kingston, NY and the surrounding area. Comparing this to other data we’ve collected from the Institute for Traffic Safety Management & Research, where there are roughly 4,600 car crashes in Ulster County every year, that means that about there is a ratio of one EMS being called, on average, for every three car crashes. As we’ll see later in this post, one motor vehicle accident can sometimes result in multiple EMS calls.

2. Duration of Ulster County EMS Calls

Due to Ulster County’s rural nature, about one in three EMS calls take over one hour. That includes getting to the scene of the incident, administering the care that is needed, and transport to a regional healthcare facility.

For motor vehicle accident victims, roughly 2/3 (1,032 out of 1,455) of crashes had EMS calls that were complete within an hour. An additional 324 crashes resulted in calls lasting 1-2 hours, and 97 others (roughly one in 15) took over two hours. For falls and injuries, 3,615 EMS calls took under one hour, 1,239 took 1-2 hours, and 179 took over two hours.

3. Where are the EMS calls taking place?

The most common place where EMS calls were made from was the City of Kingston.

Despite having a relatively modest population of 12,660 in the Town of Ulster, they came in second with the most EMS calls, with 11.4% of the total.

4. Number of Ambulances Sent

341 out of 1,378 motor vehicle accident calls (24.7%) required three or more ambulances, which is the highest percentage of multi-unit dispatches of any call type. This proves that MVAs frequently involve multiple patients, high trauma, or chaotic scenes; all factors that can dramatically increase both injury severity and the complexity of legal claims. Only 35% of MVA calls received a single ambulance, showing that these are rarely minor incidents.

For falls and injury, close to half of the calls (2,508 of 5,182) were satisfied with just one EMS call. But while falls are sometimes treated as “low-value” claims by insurance companies, the other 51% of the falls and other injuries show that these incidents can result in serious, multi-victim, or complex emergencies. That can mean that there may be elderly victims with fractures or head trauma, unsafe property conditions and premises liability, or negligent facility supervision in the cases of nursing homes or schools.

5. Response Times

Other than with overdoses, motor vehicle accidents in Ulster County suffer from the slowest processing and scene arrival times, likely due to confusion at crash sites, need for extrication, or communication delays. This increases the chance of worsened injuries like internal bleeding or traumatic brain injuries, delayed stabilization, and possibly greater long-term harm.

Nearly one in ten EMS calls in Ulster County experience 20 minute delays, which can be a critical threshold for time-sensitive conditions.

6. Calls Responded to by EMS Agency

Due to disparities in funding and other situations, it’s difficult to draw major conclusions from these statistics other than seeing how many different agencies and organizations are responding to emergencies in our region.

7. Ulster County is Losing EMTs and Paramedics Per Capita

According to a recent Dutchess County report, Ulster County is among several other local counties that is losing EMTs and Paramedics per capita.

In 2012, Ulster County had 353 EMTs per 100,000 residents; that number decreased to 293 in 2017, a decrease of 17%. Ulster County also went from 71 paramedics per 100,000 residents in 2012 to 61 in 2017, a decrease of 14%. Ulster, Dutchess and Greene Counties are the only counties in the region that experienced drops in both EMTs and Paramedics per capita.