topic Re: No Ambulance Available in Community Chat

No Ambulance Available

Isobel Archer — Sun, 20 Aug 2023 14:54:59 GMT

Yesterday got a call from my husband's 85 year old cousin that his 85 year old wife was in the hospital. She has had two strokes and fell at the mall in Palm Springs CA on Fri afternoon, hitting her head and breaking several teeth. She was unconscious so he didn't know if she'd had another stroke or what caused the fall.

When he called 911, he was told he - or someone else - should drive her to the hospital because there were no ambulances avaliable at the time and the 911 operator couldn't say when one would be.

OMG - what! Is this where we are now? Is it a shortage of EMTs, lack of money, what?

Thankfully, he drove her and she was seen relatively quickly and is now recovering. Apparently, it wasn't a stroke, and they are still running tests.

This is very scary. What if he couldn't have driven her and no one else wanted to volunteer? Wow. What if this had been in the middle of the night at home and - again he couldn't drive? Is he supposed to go knocking on neighbors' doors to see if someone would take her.

Re: No Ambulance Available

millieshops — Sun, 20 Aug 2023 15:06:35 GMT

@Isobel Archer The shortages of people and vehicles is scary. As with every thing, if it's often true in that area, it's a money need to buy ambulances and pay more workers.

Yesterday in Palm Springs I believe they were already staging vehicles and personnel ahead of the anticipated floods. That staging might explain the shortage. When I heard about the staging this morning, I didn't realize it might have been done already.

Re: No Ambulance Available

Isobel Archer — Sun, 20 Aug 2023 15:08:18 GMT

@millieshops wrote:
@Isobel Archer The shortages of people and vehicles is scary. As with every thing, if it's often true in that area, it's a money need to buy ambulances and pay more workers.

Yesterday in Palm Springs I believe they were already staging vehicles and personnel ahead of the anticipated floods. That staging might explain the shortage. When I heard about the staging this morning, I didn't realize it might have been done already.

Good point. I hadn't thought of that. Hope that is the reason and this isn't a continuing problem.

Re: No Ambulance Available

Kachina624 — Sun, 20 Aug 2023 15:16:26 GMT

They certainly ought to have enough funding for equipment and EMTs in Palm Springs. I'd be raising he'll with the city administration.

Re: No Ambulance Available

CelticCrafter — Sun, 20 Aug 2023 15:18:56 GMT

JMO but I kind of doubt it's because of impending weather.

Re: No Ambulance Available

haddon9 — Sun, 20 Aug 2023 15:22:31 GMT

@Isobel Archer Wow that's terrible! I wonder what is going on. To me ever since the beginning of the pandemic the world has turned upside down and not in a good way.

I'm happy to hear that she is recovering and it wasn't a stroke after all.

Re: No Ambulance Available

Love my grandkids — Sun, 20 Aug 2023 15:38:07 GMT

@CelticCrafter Actually it may be. I have family in So. Cal. where I am originally from and we are all watching the weather.

The desert areas, like Palm Springs, are expected to get extremely heavy rains, happily not the area where my relatives live.

So being prepared makes total sense.

Re: No Ambulance Available

eddyandme — Sun, 20 Aug 2023 15:47:12 GMT

@CelticCrafter wrote:
JMO but I kind of doubt it's because of impending weather.

I'm in complete agreement with you @CelticCrafter .

Re: No Ambulance Available

Susan-QVC — Sun, 20 Aug 2023 15:47:45 GMT

This post has been removed by QVC political

Re: No Ambulance Available

Mz iMac — Sun, 20 Aug 2023 16:00:44 GMT

@Isobel Archer "She was unconscious"

So the 85 yr old husband had to "pick up & carry" his unconscious wife all the way to the car?

Re: No Ambulance Available

LizzieInSRQ — Sun, 20 Aug 2023 16:05:16 GMT

How did he transport her when she was unconcious?!?!

Where was mall security?

Re: No Ambulance Available

Still Raining — Sun, 20 Aug 2023 16:07:07 GMT

Anyone who has traveled 10 over the years knows that Palm Springs isn't much. A good place for gas before heading east 😂

So it makes sense that ambulances might be sparse, low population.

Also, if the ER is backed up, there will be a wait before unloading. Takes time.

The public also does not consider that the vehicle has to be cleaned and restocked. Often the same hospital deals with this. Takes time.

Re: No Ambulance Available

just bee — Sun, 20 Aug 2023 16:25:11 GMT

I'm an RN, working in a psychiatric hospital. Getting an ambulance to transfer a patient to another facility is becoming a real challenge. We have limited ambulance services (basically three companies) and sometimes they just don't have the staff or any available units.

I work Friday nights when many of the ambulances are busy picking up trauma patients and taking them to our ER after assaults, gunshot wounds, stab wounds, motor vehicle accidents, pedestrian versus vehicle...

I'll call on a Friday to set up transport and sometimes the next available unit is on Sunday.

To transport to hospitals in the southern portion of our state, we don't even bother calling for an ambulance. We're flying patients there.

This is simply not sustainable.

Re: No Ambulance Available

Isobel Archer — Sun, 20 Aug 2023 16:34:24 GMT

@LizzieInSRQ wrote:
How did he transport her when she was unconcious?!?!

Where was mall security?

They were in the parking lot not far from their car when she fell. She is very frail and small and I guess he picked her up.

But you raise a good point. What if he couldn't pick her up - again he's at the mercy of others willing to help. And what if her injury were such that improperly moving her could be harmful?

It seems we are on our own in more ways than ever now.

Not sure what mall security would or would not do in this case.

Re: No Ambulance Available

persiflage — Sun, 20 Aug 2023 16:35:10 GMT

Where I live we have been experiencing problems with response as well, the county has a rule that requires 2 paramedics per ambulance to respond. The provider (AMR) has been requesting the county to lower this requirement allowing instead 1 paramedic and 1 EMT to improve their response time/availability.

We are now trying a modified dispatch where requests deemed "Advanced Life Support" will have the 2 paramedics and other calls defined as "Basic Life Support" will have EMT only crews. These crews go to the kind of calls that don't require lights and sirens.

Re: No Ambulance Available

tends2dogs — Sun, 20 Aug 2023 16:38:48 GMT

I fail to see the logic of having ambulances on stand by for something that "may" happen if it means they can't service people in need right now.

Re: No Ambulance Available

just bee — Sun, 20 Aug 2023 16:48:44 GMT

@persiflage wrote:
Where I live we have been experiencing problems with response as well, the county has a rule that requires 2 paramedics per ambulance to respond. The provider (AMR) has been requesting the county to lower this requirement allowing instead 1 paramedic and 1 EMT to improve their response time/availability.

We are now trying a modified dispatch where requests deemed "Advanced Life Support" will have the 2 paramedics and other calls defined as "Basic Life Support" will have EMT only crews. These crews go to the kind of calls that don't require lights and sirens.

@persiflage

We run into trouble when we're trying to schedule transport for our patients.

They always ask for the patient's weight. Or they ask: Is the patient bariatric?

If the patient is considered obese, they have to have three staff members to transport. Sometimes they just don't have an extra body available.

Re: No Ambulance Available

JillyMarie — Sun, 20 Aug 2023 16:50:28 GMT

The average EMT salary in the United States is $36,770 as of July 25, 2023. It would, no doubt, be higher in California but offset by the higher cost of living. It seems to me that training to be an EMT requires tuition expenses that would be better spent on nursing school tuition, where you would be making much more money. So a shortage of EMTs makes sense to me.

Also, no one wants to pay additional taxes to support raises for public employees. Truly a dilemma.

Re: No Ambulance Available

just bee — Sun, 20 Aug 2023 16:51:36 GMT

@tends2dogs wrote:
I fail to see the logic of having ambulances on stand by for something that "may" happen if it means they can't service people in need right now.

@tends2dogs

We can schedule transport for our patients but, if the ambulance service gets an emergency call, our patient will drop to the bottom of the priority list.

Re: No Ambulance Available

bikerbabe — Sun, 20 Aug 2023 16:54:35 GMT

If this happened Friday, no weather issue.

I have a little experience in this area, but my information is a couple years old so things could’ve changed since then, but I doubt it.

The Coachella Valley has a patchwork of ambulance services and it’s been a problem for years.

Depending on where you are, ambulance services can vary drastically from one side of the street to the other because of jurisdiction lines. Some cities have their own services, some contract with the County of Riverside and some use a service like AMR. I believe Palm Springs still uses AMR.

AMR is not operating out of fire stations. They basically park themselves at certain strategic locations in the region waiting for calls. Arrival time for AMR is generally longer than ambulances that operate at fire stations.

Cities with their own service or County contracts have better response than AMR.

Staffing shortages is a major problem. Many don’t want to work in the Coachella Valley. This is not a new problem. Raising my hand as someone who declined a job offer at the region’s major hospital.

There is a disproportionate demand for ambulance services in the region due to the age of many residents which makes staffing shortages even more acute.