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if the EMS system is to save critically ill and injured patients. <br /> <br /> In fact, national standards indicate that EMS systems should be <br />able to provide response within 8 minutes of call receipt 90% of <br />the time. And it is a fact that many of the patients <br />experiencing longer response times fall into this category. <br /> <br />Table 6 shows that 35% of the patients having long response times <br />in November, or 55 people, needed Advanced Life Support-level <br />care. <br /> <br />What appears to be happening in Cabarrus is that units serving <br />the more urbanized Concord-Kannapolis corridor are extremely <br />busy, and often out on calls. Outlying units are moved up. They <br />cannot respond quickly enough to calls in the urban area to keep <br />response times in that area down, and are then out-of-position to <br />serve the outlying areas where they are based. In short, the <br />entire system suffers. Other responders, such as Harrisbury <br />Rescue, are assuming some of the load, and Cabarrus Rescue is put <br />on standby 2 to 3 times per day. However, there are still times <br />when the Communications Center literally does not know where the <br />next ambulance will come from. <br /> <br />Our recommendations to remedy this situation are based on the <br />goal of meeting national standards for response times--that is, 8 <br />minutes or less 90% of the time for emergency calls. Our plan <br />calls for addressing the need for response not only to geography, <br />but also to population centers, because the system will never <br />enable outlying units to function properly until we relieve the <br /> <br /> <br />