No ambulance available ...

[eddiemax]

... is what I'm hearing a lot here in Jefferson County. I just thought it was bad until awhile ago at 1:13 pm I heard a dispatcher advising he had been trying to get an ambulance to respond with a FD since 6 am.

Be careful folks. You may have a long wait if you need an ambulance around here. Anybody else hearing that in other areas of the state?

 

[Avery93]

In Northwest AL, the EMS system has been strained since the pandemic started last year, but it hasn't got quite that bad yet. It's rare to not have any ambulance available at all, but they are likely to be pulled from another county and have a greatly extended ETA. Response times have gotten noticeably longer because of this.

I have heard that in some of the very rural counties in West AL, not having any ambulance available is the norm. I have heard cases of Air EMS helicopters being dispatched and picking up patients from the scene without ground EMS ever arriving or even having a unit enroute. This is all due to a combination of personnel shortages, and extremely long wait times to get patients into hospitals.

 

[MDKramerAL]

Huntsville EMS at times has over 1-hour waiting time. I've talked to HFD where they have been called out at the HPD request due to long EMS wait times.

 

[garys]

This is going on all over the country. Crews I talk to tell me a lot of it is people with colds who are convinced that they now have Covid and want to go to the hospital to be "checked out."

 

[APX8000]

Low volunteerism, low pay, low reimbursement rates, higher costs, etc....its all over the Country. I was in upstate NY over the weekend and heard a call go out for a town, then they were resounded, then went mutual aid to neighboring town, that went to second dispatch with no response, finally third town got ambulance out and no paid ALS available. It was a while before anyone got on scene (other than PD on scene asking for ETAs constantly).

 

[morganAL]

My office is across the hall from dispatch and I hear the struggles with dispatchers trying to get ambulances. Our center dispatches 3 different providers and it's almost an every day occurrence that they are calling neighboring counties trying to get an ambulance.

 

[cajunjerry]

In Shreveport Louisiana, the fire department gets overwhelmed a lot..the have Ballentine ambulance and now acadian ambulance in the last 8 months to help

 

[nacsr]

Low volunteerism, low pay, low reimbursement rates, higher costs, etc....its all over the Country. I was in upstate NY over the weekend and heard a call go out for a town, then they were resounded, then went mutual aid to neighboring town, that went to second dispatch with no response, finally third town got ambulance out and no paid ALS available. It was a while before anyone got on scene (other than PD on scene asking for ETAs constantly).

I'm Upstate and this goes on every day. On the flip side,people call 911 because they're throwing up,had a headache all day, back aches and all kinds of non emergencies.These calls obviously overwhelm the system.

 

[cajunjerry]

I'm Upstate and this goes on every day. On the flip side,people call 911 because they're throwing up,had a headache all day, back aches and all kinds of non emergencies.These calls obviously overwhelm the system.

How do you know that a headache is not an emergency? Brain 🧠 bleed, cva plus ➕ more

 

[garys]

We used to call that the "Headache - Brain Tumor Syndrome." Our then medical director used to say that in the Western Hemisphere when you hear hoof beats you should think horse, not Zebra.

There are questions that triage can, but generally doesn't, ask to try and get an accurate EMD dispatch type code. Not every headache needs an ALS response.

How do you know that a headache is not an emergency? Brain 🧠 bleed, cva plus ➕ more

 

[cajunjerry]

We used to call that the "Headache - Brain Tumor Syndrome." Our then medical director used to say that in the Western Hemisphere when you hear hoof beats you should think horse, not Zebra.

There are questions that triage can, but generally doesn't, ask to try and get an accurate EMD dispatch type code. Not every headache needs an ALS response.

Figured that you couldn't answer the questions

 

[garys]

Or maybe that you couldn't understand the answer.

Figured that you couldn't answer the questions

 

[cajunjerry]

All you said is blah blah to work around the answers to the questions because you don't have any experience..

 

[garys]

Other than my 35 years as a full time provider in a 9-1-1 only municipal system, no, no experience. Ironically, I started out as a dispatcher, which in my former (I'm now retired) agency are all EMTs. Then on to the field as an EMT, paramedic, supervisor, FTO.

I'd do between 8-15 calls in an eight hour shift.

No, no experience.

 

[DarkEnder47]

Over here in GA, we have no available ambulances many times during the day, sometimes it is so busy there will be a pending call list for hours. I remember a couple of weeks ago there was a rollover accident in the corner of the county and the closest ambulance was at a hospital 35-40 mins away. We have about 5-6 ambulances for a county of around 45K, except usually one breaks down or is on a detail. I was thinking it was just a local issue but looks like it is happening nationwide.

 

[a417]

All you said is blah blah to work around the answers to the questions because you don't have any experience..

How would you fix it?

 

[garys]

Thanks for dragging us back on topic. Sorry to all for the thread drift.

Over here in GA, we have no available ambulances many times during the day, sometimes it is so busy there will be a pending call list for hours. I remember a couple of weeks ago there was a rollover accident in the corner of the county and the closest ambulance was at a hospital 35-40 mins away. We have about 5-6 ambulances for a county of around 45K, except usually one breaks down or is on a detail. I was thinking it was just a local issue but looks like it is happening nationwide.

 

[nacsr]

How do you know that a headache is not an emergency? Brain 🧠 bleed, cva plus ➕ more

I don't.It was one example.You have a headache all day and then decide you need an ambulance at night ?

 

[APX8000]

I'm Upstate and this goes on every day. On the flip side,people call 911 because they're throwing up,had a headache all day, back aches and all kinds of non emergencies.These calls obviously overwhelm the system.

I used to love those 0400 calls for problems that began at noon.

 

[garys]

Nothing good on TV, the bars are closed, theaters closed, ran out of cigarettes and beer.

I used to love those 0400 calls for problems that began at noon.