SF Bay Area EMS

[rc1990]

I'm new to the SF Bay Area EMS feed. Was just wondering what does it mean that a hospital is : red, yellow or green? Is it like traffic light, Red = ER full, don't go there, yellow=ER will soon be full, try an alternative and green = ER with beds, continnue.

Also what priority is a call that is code 1, code 2, code 3 & code 4? Is a 1 an emergency call and a 4 an administrative call (non-emergency transfer) or it's the other way arround.

Thanks for the help.

 

[EMSJUNKY]

Here are the dispatch types for Alpha Bravo Charlie Delta and Echo Responses.
http://ecmscanning.tripod.com/pridispcodes.html

Code 1: Respond at your convenience
Code 2: Urgent, respond with out lights and sirens
Code 3: Emergency Call, respond with red lights and sirens

**Hospital Statuses**
Green: ER is open to ambulances
Yellow: ER is open to ambulances, but CT scanner is down.
Red: ER is closed to ambulance traffic. Even though they are closed to ambulances, they MUST still accept code 3 ambulances. Trauma centers can only go divert to medical patients, they must stay open to trauma and code 3 ambulances.

Hope this helps.

 

[rc1990]

Awesome!! Thank you.

 

[trooperdude]

in Santa Clara County Orange is:: CT scanner down or no neurosurgeon on site

Black is hospital closed and under quarantine. Yes, this happened once at Valley Medical Center when they brought a patient in who was exposed to chemicals and didn't decon first.

Hospital went black for several hours.

Oh ya, and Code 4 is for when they accidentally push their distress button on their radio, so they don't send the calvary.

Hope this helps.

Trooperdude
provider of the Bay Area EMS feed
CA Title 22 First Responder

 

[EMSJUNKY]

Black is actually not necessarily quarantine. Black simply means that there is an internal disaster at a given, such as the hazmat at VMC (which would be a quarantine), but could also be from power failure, phone failure, etc.

Going "black" is extremely rate.

the term that a facility is yellow is used differently in various counties. It can also mean high ER sensus, certain services (ortho, OB, surgical, etc) are unavailable. Santa Clara and San Mateo use the term yellow for the lack of CT scanner.

 

[EMSJUNKY]

This may be a good reference for hospital statuses... Orange or Yellow (used interchangeably) simply means "Service Limitation Advisory."

http://sccemsagency.org/SCC/docs/Em...09603 ED Diversion & Trauma Bypass 072709.pdf

 

[EMSJUNKY]

This is a good reference for Santa Clara Co's divert policy. http://sccemsagency.org/SCC/docs/Em...09603 ED Diversion & Trauma Bypass 072709.pdf

Yellow or Orange (used interchangeably) simply means Service Limitation Advisory.

Even though the policy says that a trauma center can go on divert (one at a time in the county), it is usually VERY rare given that multiple counties send patients to the various trauma centers via ground and air.