L.A. Fire Dept. gets grant to improve EMS response time

MyNewsLA.com

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles City Council Tuesday approved $450,000 to fund seven money-saving ideas submitted by city employees, with more than half of the funds going to a proposal to hire nurse practitioners to help the Los Angeles Fire Department improve its response to medical calls.

The grants will come out of a $1 million “innovation fund” that Mayor Eric Garcetti set up last year to encourage employees to come up with ideas to improve the way the city operates. The newly approved grants will be distributed over two years.

One of the winning proposals calls for spending $245,000 to hire nurse practitioners to treat patients with minor injuries, freeing up beds and reducing paramedic wait times at hospitals.

Full story: Money-saving ideas get $450K in funding from L.A.'s innovation fund