Calls for service for the Cole County Ambulance Service (EMS) rose over the past year.
That's up from 10,170 in 2015 and 10,100 in 2014, the first year the service hit the 10,000 mark.
"For now, we have enough trucks, are able to respond to calls in an appropriate amount of time and have our ambulances based in areas with the greatest demand," Public Information Officer Kevin Wieberg said.
The Cole County Commission agreed in September to add four dispatchers as the service changed how it handles incoming emergency calls.
Cole County EMS has 75 employees - 45 full time and 30 part time. It has a fleet of 12 ambulances, 10 of which are active. The most ambulances on duty is seven and the least is four; the average peak call time is 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
Ambulances are based at five locations - the EMS base on Southridge Drive, the Regional West Fire Protection Station on Apache Trail, the Cole County Fire Protection Stations at Brazito and County Park, and Monday through Friday at the Cole County Jail.
"In the city, our response time is under eight minutes. And out in the county, it is less than 15 minutes," Wieberg said. "We expect the numbers to grow little by little. We didn't have to rely on other agencies to take some calls, so that added to our numbers."
Wieberg said they had 2,310 calls to transfer a patient to and from a facility, but the bulk of their runs is for 911 calls for medical problems.
"We are challenging our crews to improve their times from when their radios go off to when they are on their way to a call," he said. "We try to get that under 90 seconds, and we are accomplishing that."
The slowest and busiest months for EMS were the last two of 2016.
A mild November led to 834 calls, but an icy December saw 971 calls for service.
"We paid for it," Wieberg said. "We learn to never say it's a quiet time."
On the EMS website, colecounty.ems.org, viewers can see some of the calls the crews answer during the day. It uses the same system that sends the calls to crews to respond. Wieberg said it shows the last four calls the service went on, using generic terms such as "sick person" or "transfer," updating within two minutes of calls going out.
New EMS Director Jerry Johnston is scheduled to start his position Monday, county commissioners were told at their meeting Tuesday. He was hired in December after a nationwide search following the demotion of former director Mike Shirts amid staff concerns of low morale and how the operation of the service was being handled. Johnston comes to Cole County after serving as director of operations for the Paramedics Plus Alameda County Operation, which includes the Oakland, California, area, overseeing 400 employees.