By Stryker
As director of the Fairfield County, South Carolina EMS Department, Mike Tanner routinely balances the need to save lives with the demand to conserve expenses and meet budgets.
One of Tanner’s key priorities to his 50 employees is that they have the advanced equipment necessary to handle an increasing number of patient calls each month. In addition, his responsibility to the nearly 25,000 county residents, whose taxes support Tanner’s department, is to ensure that the equipment he purchases is cost-effective. By investing in advanced equipment, Tanner found a solution that satisfied the needs of both parties. The result: his department met the county’s transport needs, reported no injury-related lost or modified work days in 2006, increased efficiency due to fewer injuries, and is no longer experiencing greater than $40,000 in workers’ compensation expenditures per year.
His secret? The purchase of ten Stryker Power-PRO powered ambulance cots and nine Stryker Stair-PRO stair chairs in December 2005. The investment Tanner made in this new equipment reduced employee and patient injuries. The projected savings in workers’ compensation expenditures alone will more than offset the purchase of the equipment in approximately two years.
