Locating an Ambulance on the Amherst Campus of the State University of New York at Buffalo

We used past call-data statistics and a network representation of the Amherst Campus of the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo to find a dynamic positioning strategy for the campus ambulance. As measure of performance we used the system-wide average response time to a call. We solved one-median problems on several network “states” to determine optimal locations for the ambulance. To conclude our research effort, we validated the model. Models are not truth—the 30-percent savings predicted by our model evaporated during the test, which gave us a mere six-percent savings. This seemingly odd result is explained by the “elbow” relationship between travel time and travel distance, a relationship empirically postulated by the RAND fire project team in 1979.