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To the Editor:

In response to the June 8th article titled “Discussion held on placement of county ambulance in Duck”. The town of Duck sits at the northern tip of Dare County. Currently, 50% of all 911 calls in Duck are medical calls. As per Chief Jennie Collins, Dare County EMS, the Northern part of Duck is outside of the preferred 8 minute response time for the 2 EMS crews located in Southern Shores,

Approximately 4 years ago Chief Collins recognized the challenges regarding EMS response to north Duck. She approached the Duck Fire Chief and offered to place an ambulance at the Duck Public Safety building in an effort to address this response shortfall. This offer was declined.

The population of the town explodes to almost 25,000 in the summertime. Heavily congested weekend traffic on 12N through the town increases ambulance response times from the Southern Shores EMS station to north Duck.

Currently, Duck firefighters are trained to provide only basic life saving. A county ambulance crew would provide Advanced Life Saving and the ability to transport a patient. Firefighters cannot provide this service. This shortfall poses potential life or death consequences.

The town manager has received numerous emails in support of placing a county ambulance in the Duck Public Safety building from the presidents of the following homeowner’s associations which represent hundreds of Duck homeowners:
Sanderling Property Owners Association
Caffey’s Inlet Hamlet Owners Association, Inc
Sanderling Homeowner’s Association
Carolina Dunes Homeowners Association

All of this information was discussed at the town council meeting on June 3rd.

Patti Bossert

Duck

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