Int. No. 540
By Council Members Gerson, Avella, Brewer, Clarke, Fidler, Jackson, James, Jennings, Lopez, Quinn, Stewart, Weprin, Koppell, Gennaro and Liu
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to comprehensive tracking of emergency medical service response times.
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. The Fire Department currently tracks and reports on the duration of time between when an emergency call is received and when emergency medical service arrives at the street address of a suspected medical emergency. This data, however, presents an incomplete picture of the city's emergency medical service because there may be considerable delay between arrival at a building and arrival at a particular apartment or floor where a medical emergency may be occurring, particularly in high-rise buildings.
The Council finds that more comprehensive tracking of emergency medical service response times will permit the City to better plan for and respond to medical emergencies. Accordingly, the Council declares that it is reasonable and necessary to require the tracking of the response times to the actual location of medical emergencies.
§ 2. Chapter one of title 15 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 15-129 to read as follows:
§ 15-129 Tracking of emergency medical service response times. The department shall track the duration of time between a report to a 911 operator where emergency medical service is deemed necessary and the arrival of the first responding emergency medical service personnel to reach the intended patient. The commissioner shall submit a quarterly report to the council, detailing the average response times and range in response times for medical emergencies, for the city, for each borough, and for each city block.
§3. This local law shall take effect 90 days after enactment.
LS# 2231
RBU
01/11/2005