08/24/2026
🚑 **MEET A5 — THE RIGHT AMBULANCE FOR THE RIGHT CALL**
Saline County Ambulance District #3 is excited to welcome **A5**, a **2026 Firstar ambulance built by AEV — American Emergency Vehicles** — to our fleet!
A5 has arrived and our crews are currently outfitting it and preparing it for service. While we're excited about our newest ambulance, there's a bigger story behind why SCAD needed to add another unit.
# # # 📈 Our call volume has changed
In 2016, SCAD responded to **2,262 calls**. For several years, our annual call volume remained fairly consistent:
**2016 — 2,262**
**2017 — 2,253**
**2018 — 2,316**
**2019 — 2,363**
**2020 — 2,329**
Then we began seeing a sustained increase:
**2021 — 2,637**
**2022 — 2,580**
**2023 — 2,792**
**2024 — 3,048**
**2025 — 3,024**
Our 2016–2020 average was approximately **2,305 calls per year**. By 2024 and 2025, we were responding to more than 3,000 calls annually — approximately a **30% increase**.
And 2026 is continuing that trend. As of our most recent review, SCAD is approximately **100 calls ahead of where we were at this same point last year.**
But the most important thing we learned wasn't simply that we were getting more calls.
**We looked at what kind of calls were increasing.**
A significant portion of that growth has been in **non-acute and lower-acuity calls that do not require Advanced Life Support (ALS).**
That finding helped shape our solution.
# # # 🚑 RIGHT RESOURCE. RIGHT CALL.
Not every patient needs a paramedic.
Our **ALS crews are staffed with paramedics** who have additional training, equipment, medications, and capabilities to manage patients with complex or life-threatening medical conditions.
Our **BLS crews are staffed with EMTs** who provide emergency medical care, assessment, stabilization, monitoring, and transportation for patients who don't require those advanced interventions.
Our EMTs are an important part of the EMS system, and they are fully capable of recognizing when a patient's needs exceed BLS capabilities.
If an EMT determines that a patient needs ALS care, **the call can be upgraded and an ALS unit can respond.**
The goal isn't to send the highest level of resource to every call.
**The goal is to send the right resource to the right patient.**
# # # 🚑 WHY A5?
To help meet the increased demand, SCAD added a **BLS ambulance crew to each shift**, allowing us to staff a third ambulance around the clock.
A5 will primarily serve as the ambulance for those BLS crews.
It is a **more compact ambulance than our other units**, which fits its primary mission well. A BLS ambulance doesn't require all of the additional space and equipment needed for a full ALS configuration.
But A5 is **BLS-focused — not BLS-limited.**
A5 will carry a significant amount of the same equipment found on our ALS ambulances. This gives us additional flexibility when circumstances require it.
For example, if an A5 BLS crew responds to a patient and determines that the patient requires ALS-level care, an ALS response can be requested.
If an ALS ambulance is not immediately available, the **Chief of EMS, who is also a paramedic, can respond in the District vehicle and meet the A5 crew.** With the ALS equipment carried on A5, the Chief can provide the necessary ALS assessment and treatment.
The BLS response doesn't eliminate our ability to provide ALS care.
**It gives us another way to deliver it when and where it is needed.**
# # # 🏥 HELPING WITH HOSPITAL TRANSFERS
A5 will also provide another important resource for **interfacility transfers from Fitzgibbon Hospital**.
With reductions in services at Fitzgibbon, more patients are being transferred to other facilities because the service they need is no longer available locally.
Many of these patients are **stable and do not require a paramedic**, but they still need ambulance transportation.
When appropriate, a BLS crew can handle these transfers, allowing our ALS crews and ambulances to remain available for emergency calls in our community.
That's especially important in a rural EMS system where one ambulance and crew can be committed to a transfer for several hours.
# # # **A5 IS MORE THAN A NEW AMBULANCE**
A5 is part of a larger strategy to make SCAD **more flexible, more efficient, and better able to match our resources to the needs of our patients.**
It allows us to:
🚑 Handle increasing call volume
🚑 Provide dedicated BLS coverage
🚑 Keep ALS resources available for higher-acuity emergencies
🚑 Provide appropriate crews for stable interfacility transfers
🚑 Respond to more calls without automatically committing a paramedic unit
🚑 Maintain the ability to provide ALS care when circumstances require it
This is what **tiered EMS response** is about.
It isn't about providing less care.
It's about providing **the right level of care, with the right resources, at the right time.**
We are grateful to our **Board of Directors and the citizens of Saline County** for supporting SCAD and allowing us to plan for the future of emergency medical services in our community.
And, as always, thank you to the men and women of SCAD who answer the call every day.
🚑 **Saline County Ambulance District #3**
**Serving Our Community, One Call at a Time.**
