Va. ambulance agency celebrates 25th anniversary

By EMS1 Staff

RICHMOND, Va. — The Richmond Ambulance Authority celebrated its 25th anniversary on Wednesday, Sept. 21. After a quarter century in operation, RAA has transformed from the nascent EMS service created by the city under dire circumstances in 1991, to become a preeminent world-leader in pre-hospital healthcare.

"When RAA was created 25 years ago, EMS service in the city was in complete disarray with multiple ambulance companies competing for the best, highest-paying transports, leaving some sectors of the City without coverage," Chip Decker, Richmond Ambulance Authority CEO said.  "There was no accountability at all, which is why the Richmond Ambulance Authority was created and given responsibility for providing EMS services in the City of Richmond.  Over the course of these 25 years, particularly since we severed ties with our operations contractor in 2007 and became self-operated, the city of Richmond truly has a world-class EMS system."

RAA uses data and information systems to conduct demand analysis to ensure ambulances are in the right place at the right time to meet or exceed emergency response time requirements. Annual call volume has gone from 43,000 in 1991, to 66,000 calls in 2016 — a 50 percent increase. 

In 2015, RAA was named the Career EMS Agency of the Year by the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians and EMS World magazine. RAA's other distinctions include being accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services and named an Accredited Center of Excellence by the International Academies of Emergency Dispatch.

For years, RAA has had a significant impact on EMS internationally, most recently with its partnership with the Panamerican Trauma Society. Trauma surgeons from Central and South America come to Richmond to participate in this international observer program. They spend weeks at a time embedded with RAA to fully understand the role an EMS organization plays in the overall trauma system. These clinicians then take the lessons learned in the Richmond system and apply them in their own countries.  

Since becoming a self-operated system in 2007, RAA has hosted numerous visitors who want to learn more about Richmond's EMS successes including government officials, doctors and EMS personnel from England, Scotland, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, Holland, Norway, Columbia, Chile, Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, Australia, Turkmenistan and Taiwan.

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