New Head Of EMS Appointed With Goal Of Reducing Response Times

DETROIT (WWJ) - Mayor Mike Duggan has appointed a new Detroit EMS Chief. Angela Turner is taking over the department -- her predecessor was appointed in February but was unable to get response times in line with national standards.

John Berlin is the deputy fire commissioner, he says the change in leadership is just part of the department's plan to improve response times.

He describes Turner as a veteran leader within the EMS division.

"She has a lot of credentials and degrees and our hope is to bring her on to help ... take us to that eight minute response time," said Berlin.

"We want the citizens of Detroit and the visitors that come to Detroit for entertainment and recreation to have the same service as they would anywhere else, and be confident that Detroit fire and EMS will be there when needed to provide any care that was needed," said Berlin. "So we are truly, truly trying to be competitive in all of our city services - but especially in this department; EMS service as well as our fire service because we really have some of the best firefighters and medics in the country."

In addition to the change in leadership -- Detroit's EMS division will start a new class of trainees and get more ambulances on the road.

"We started with 33 people in the academy on Monday, so that's additional personnel and additional apparatus, we have 15 pieces of new ambulances coming in ... " said Berlin.

There are currently about 200 people employed by the department.