It was a spring day in 2012 when Lacy Alexander, a Williamson County emergency services dispatcher fresh out of her training program, answered a call from Hutto.
“I received a call from a mom that her [baby’s] hand and lips were blue and that [the baby] wasn’t breathing,” Alexander said.
Three months prior, dispatchers had helped deliver the same Hutto infant when her mother called 911 during premature labor, Alexander said.
“Being a mom myself, I put myself in the mother’s situation, but the training and education I received kicked in immediately and I started giving the mother instructions on how to help her baby,” Alexander said. “I got her address and her phone number, I got the protocol for CPR, and we started the two breaths and chest compressions until the firefighters and paramedics arrived.”
The incident marked the first time Alexander helped save a life over the phone through CPR, and since that time she has answered hundreds of calls from Hutto and other cities in Williamson County regarding emergencies from loose dogs to domestic violence to traffic accidents, she said.
Although Hutto operates its own police department, its emergency medical services and dispatch services are provided by Williamson County.
The county receives an average of 31 calls daily from Hutto, and about 6 percent of those require emergency medical assistance, according to Scott Parker, Williamson County Emergency Communications director, and Williamson County EMS Director Kenny Schnell.
Hutto officials launched a comprehensive overview of the city’s public safety services in April—starting with a presentation on emergency services dispatch—and plan to use their findings to inform future decisions about the expansion or alteration of services, Hutto Mayor Debbie Holland said.
Despite the increasing population in Williamson County, county EMS officials said they have been able to meet the community’s needs.
Schnell said there was actually a 2 percent reduction in calls in 2014 compared with 2013, which he attributes to the county’s new Community Health Paramedicine program—a federally funded project that aims to connect uninsured or underinsured residents with health services and decrease their reliance on hospital emergency rooms for primary care.
Hutto has one ambulance, and there are three additional ambulances within 8 miles of the city, Schnell said. The EMS response time in Hutto—which averages about 6.5 minutes for the two closest ambulances—are periodically evaluated to determine whether additional EMS vehicles or equipment are needed, Williamson County EMS Deputy Director Joe Granberry said.
“We evaluate the response times and the call volume—when it starts creeping up then we start looking at adding additional resources,” he said.
The county’s average EMS response times are 7.5 minutes in cities and nine minutes in rural areas, Granberry said.
According to Schnell, Hutto’s average response times vary on the north and south sides of Hwy. 79 and the railroad line. In 2014 the average response time on the north side, where the EMS station is located, was 5 minutes and 40 seconds. On the south side it was 7 minutes and 2 seconds.
Holland said the public safety overview series will allow the city to evaluate all aspects emergency response and determine what changes, if any, need to be made.
“One of the things I hope comes out of this is priorities and how we determine what those priorities are,” Holland said. “As the community of Hutto continues to grow, our needs and our responsibilities continue to grow and change[...]. We’re not waiting for something bad to happen before we take action.”
