After combining two EMS crews at one post, Sedgwick County saw emergency response times increase by roughly 7% in west Wichita. Now, the County Commission has approved the construction of a new EMS post to serve the area. The site of the new Post 1 has not yet been selected, but the commission approved $1,838,995 for land acquisition, design and construction at Wednesday’s meeting. Between 1975 and May 2023, Post 1 was located at 2622 W. Central, the site of the former Riverside Hospital complex, where the county was allowed to station ambulances without paying rent. The Post 1 crew is responsible for west Wichita and the near northwest side of the city, serving 33,500 residents and responding to more than 5,000 emergency calls annually. “Around May of 2023, utilities were partially working or not at all, which included water and partial electricity,” Assistant County Manager Tania Cole told commissioners. As a temporary solution, that crew was relocated to Post 20, south of Kellogg at Stillwell and Seneca. But that facility wasn’t built to support two crews, and it placed Post 1 outside of its service territory. As a result, emergency response times suffered.
Source: Local News | Wichita Eagle
