Response times & ambulances firegeezer on 13 Apr 2008 08:48 am
San Fran. Dispatch Shortcomings
IN THE PAST FOUR YEARS, OVER 430 PEOPLE HAVE DIED IN SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, while waiting for an ambulance that was late in arriving.
Even though the city’s standard for response times is not as stringent as the nationally recommended standards, they are still missing the target response time in 27% of the high-priority medical calls.
Image supplied by FreeFoto.com
The San Francisco Chronicle did an in-depth study of all 439 delayed calls and have reported their findings in today’s paper.
While there are several reasons why the times are not being met, the Chronicle found that the biggest obstacle is in the dispatching center:
The 911 call center, plagued with problems from low morale to a proliferation of calls from people who don’t speak English, is the weakest part of San Francisco’s emergency medical response system, according to The Chronicle’s analysis of city dispatch logs from Nov. 1, 2003, through Dec. 31, 2007.
Fifty-seven percent of the time, the call center has failed to meet the city’s goal of dispatching urgent medical calls within 2 minutes, records show.
The Chronicle’s staff writer Jim Doyle has put together a very thorough and interesting report. Take the time to read the entire story HERE.
