GREENSBORO, N.C. — Guilford County Emergency Services began the Interagency Medical Provider Assessment and Care Team (I.M.P.A.C.T) program in September of 2022.
What started as a pilot has started to develop into a part of the everyday emergency response team here in Guilford County.
You may wonder, what are these new units really going to do? That answer is simple. These small two-person teams operate out of small medical vehicles and tend to many non-life-threatening calls that Guilford County receives on a daily.
This allows for the full-sized ambulances to be freed up for the higher priority calls. Cutting down response times, eliminating wasted man hours, and saving lives. That is the goal of Guilford County's newest I.M.P.A.C.T. Units.
We spoke with Guilford County Emergency Management's Public Information Officer, Scott Muthersbaugh, about these new upgrades.
"The impact units are unique because we're taking two EMT basics and putting them in a quick response vehicle... the great thing about these units, is they are not only less expensive to operate, less expensive to staff, but they can help meet a need that wasn't being met as quick. We're able to blend the cost-saving measure and also provide a lifetime of service that wasn't being met", Muthersbaugh told us.
There are 38 different types of calls that you could see one of these units on scene according to Guilford County EMS Manager Justin Hargett told us.
"We've taken 8-10% of our call volume on our ambulances by just sending the right resources to the right patients at the right time. That really allows us to be available for other calls... We're able to send these non-emergency vehicles immediately instead of waiting for the ambulances that are caught up on the emergency calls", Hargett told us.