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Michael J Kaplan
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On November 8, at 11 AM, I slipped on ice in a downtown parking ramp and knew I broke my leg. Lying on my back in the ramp, I called 911. BFD was there within 10 minutes, and Rural Metro was there no more than 5 minutes later. All were terrific. I was taken to ECMC, and though I thought I was treated promptly, I see what Rural Metro is saying about having a lot of teams tied up at Emergency, waiting for the hospital to take-over an release the EMTs. There were at least three teams of three EMTs attending to patients they had brought in, waiting for the hospital to take over. I have no complaints at all. But until I saw the report on the 6PM news tonight, I didn't realize that "my" very excellent Rural Metro team could have been back on the street sooner, had the wait for the hospital to have taken over sooner. Again, I thought that ECMC was great, but there were a lot of Rural Metro EMTs tending to their patients in the receiving area. So maybe there's something to be said for the proposition that the EMTs are sort-of auxliary staff for a busy hospital ER, whereas more hospital staff would put more ambulances on the street faster.
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Mike
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Being a former employee of Rural/Metro I see this problem as a 2 way street. Rural/Metro only puts so many ambulances "in service" with ADI on any given night. If people call off sick that is one more ambulance out of service with ADI. If a "private" call comes in for a nursing home transfer there goes another ambulance and so on. Now if a supervisor hears a call for a shooting and knows he is closer but doesn't respond that is not ADI's fault. He/she has a radio in the fly car and can respond to calls if they are closer as a supervisor. If another ambulance is closer the same thing applies. They have a radio and if ADI won't answer they can call Rural/Metro dispatch and advise them they are closer. I'm not defending ADI but they are not the only ones who should be under the spotlight here. My neighbor waited 17 minutes for an Ambulance for a difficulty breathing call which is a Paramedic response. If it wasnt for BFD responding with oxygen who knows what could have happened.
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Chris
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Is it a considence or is it me but after the city of Buffalo tried to establish a ambulance fee and another local ambulance agency pulled out of Buffalo there has been numerous reports about lenghty response times and a lack of in-service ambulances. Competition it appears was a good thing. If you look in records with ADI you will see that the # of in service ambulances has decreased after TCA pulled out. I have personally spoke to BFD personal and current R/M employees and they have all said the # of ambulances covering the city has gone down and response times are up. I'm glad I don't live in the City of Buffalo
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Michael
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The response times are well with the times dictated by the city and the various towns. People do not realize the EMS personnel are required to maneuver a vehicle, which is very top heavy, at high speeds and at the same time avoiding traffic and hazards. Most drivers pull to the right when they notice the lights and sirens; however, some suddenly stop in front of the ambulance. People who say that the response times are too slow are admitting to being ignorant to what EMT's and Paramedics, the people you call to help, have to deal with. The first responsibility to every EMS personnel is the safety of themselves and of their partner. How can EMS personnel help if they get into an accident on the way to their destination?
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north end
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The long responce time seems to be everybodys fault except the ambulace company.The hospital keeps us,the dispatch system is flawed,one third are abuse calls.Are we expected to believe that 33% of the people calling for help only want their check cashed.They said that they had units closer but the dispatch did not call them.That excuse is as hard to swallow as the rest.May be it is not the system but the company that the system calls. Was the fire dept on scene before the news wagon.Give the fire dept. the ambulance what can that hurt,or is that thinking too far out of the box.(was'nt this an issue during patti parette's shooting)
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Pat
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Seniors needing transport can call the "Going Places" van. For a nominal charge.
Medicaid adults can take a cab and Medicaid will pay for that..but I advise to call Medicaid to confirm.
Other adults can call a cab..
It's cheaper to call a cab or a van service than to call 911..For those people who abuse this 911 service; they should have their monthly checks docked. Names will go on a list and names are called in..followed by correspondence.
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Mike
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Chris stated "# of Ambulances covering the city has gone down and response times are up". Exactly. Two major reasons 1. Rural/Metro does not pay enough to attract new EMT's and 2. Ambulances are busy with the "I have toe pain, take me to the hospital" calls that constantly abuse the 911 system and overflow local hospitals tying up ambulance crews
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Cookie
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As Mike has stated these are many of the problems with the response times. Lack of crews, Over worked, Under payed, Abused 911 system, and ADI not sending the proper Ambulance to the call even if the closer Ambulance states they are closer. Heres a few ideas. Raise the pay, Get rid of ADI or, let ADI give the calls to Rural Metro and let Rural Metro decide who takes the call since they have a better knowledge of who is where and doing what since they are Rural Metro Ambulances.
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firefiter-emt
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As a vol. Firefiter I make loads of trips to the hosiptals. At any given time I see 3 or 4 ambulances sitting at hospitals, one day not to long ago there were 13 ambulances sitting at buffalo mercy. I have had a 3 hour wait at ECMC. Let's look at the FREE RIDES.
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sal
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The response times are just as terrible in cheektowaga as other areas, if it wasn't for the vol. fire depts. there could possibly be no patient care for 30 mins.
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Robert Franklin
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The system is broken. Why do Volunteer Fire Companies have ambulances and don't use them? Isn't this part of the problem ? Why should all the blame fall on one company ? And I have to disagree with another person, when Twin City was in the City of Buffalo they only had one or two ambulances in the city and expected Metro to carry the load. I think Rural Metro should not handle the 911 calls and let Buffalo Fire take over. I was a Fire Fighter in West Seneca but I quit because I was disgusted with with us having the ambulances but not using them and depending on Rural Metro ! West Seneca taxpayers WAK UP !
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truth
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I have been working as a professional EMT/Paramedic for over 4 years in WNY and I think its time that we look at this in a realistic view, First off many people here make valid points. I think first off it should be said that the City of Buffalo contract only requires that the City have Seven (7) Paramedic ambulances in service for the city of buffalo at any given time of the day.....yup. thats it! SEVEN. not many concidering that there are over 55,000 ADI or 911 calls each year. Rural Metro has its seven paramedic cars in service every day and utilizes ambulances from all areas it operates in for the city. at sometimes there are more than 20 ambulances "in service" with ADI. Maybe the city wrote a bad RFP. Oh by the way there was only one other company that wanted to bid the city RFP and they were solicited to bid the contract, so if Rural Metro did not want the contract who would take it? Can you also blame the ambulance crews for having to until recently, work with ADI dispatch policies written in the 1980's? Second, I would say that 1/3 of calls are bogus calls is a low estimate. Its probably 1/2! Many calls in this city of buffalo are a waste of an ambulance, there is no reason that police can not transport a violent psychiatric patient. this is a frequent call for an ambulance. may of the calls are for "frequent flyers" these people only hinder the job we do on a daily basis. it is not uncommon for the same patient to visit an ER 5 times a week or more, usually for issues that are not an emergency, i.e. intoxicated, tooth pain, foot pain, etc. This uses a valuable bed in the ER. Abuse of the system must stop! Nursing homes in the area are also system abusers. there are some nursing homes that chronicly send out patients that they could very easily treat in their facility. As for long turn around times.....its true, and its not just one hospital...its all hospitals. As more and more people use an ER for their primary care facility there will be longer wait times. It is not uncommon to wait for HOURS in an ER with a patient on your stretcher. maybe our local governments will allow us to try alternate transportation programs or alternate destination programs. the problem is this area is reluctant to change its past practices. There is no doubt that changes need to be made to bring EMS into the 21st century in WNY.
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truth
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Absolutly, West Seneca has two fire companys that refuse to allow the town to sign a contract that would bring professional paramedics into their town. Do the residents of west seneca know that they have no professional EMS providers in their town? instead they come from other areas! Cheektowaga, Buffalo or Hamburg. Robert Franklin wrote: The system is broken. Why do Volunteer Fire Companies have ambulances and don't use them? Isn't this part of the problem ? Why should all the blame fall on one company ? And I have to disagree with another person, when Twin City was in the City of Buffalo they only had one or two ambulances in the city and expected Metro to carry the load. I think Rural Metro should not handle the 911 calls and let Buffalo Fire take over. I was a Fire Fighter in West Seneca but I quit because I was disgusted with with us having the ambulances but not using them and depending on Rural Metro ! West Seneca taxpayers WAK UP !
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truth
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Hate to break it to ya sal, the average resopnce time for Cheektowaga is well under the national average of 10-12 mins. In Cheektowaga its under 8 mins more than 90% of the time. usually closer to 6 mins. check your facts. sal wrote: The response times are just as terrible in cheektowaga as other areas, if it wasn't for the vol. fire depts. there could possibly be no patient care for 30 mins.
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truth
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Absolutly! Cookie wrote: As Mike has stated these are many of the problems with the response times. Lack of crews, Over worked, Under payed, Abused 911 system, and ADI not sending the proper Ambulance to the call even if the closer Ambulance states they are closer. Heres a few ideas. Raise the pay, Get rid of ADI or, let ADI give the calls to Rural Metro and let Rural Metro decide who takes the call since they have a better knowledge of who is where and doing what since they are Rural Metro Ambulances.
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so-so
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I dont know if its better to have r/m or not.. i live in an area where there is a volunteer ambulance service and my father called for their services (it wasn't toe pain, he passed the following day) and it took them over 20-25 min to get there and they had to call in another volunteer service. their crew was very nice, understanding(my dad was getting delerious) and they were very professional and i would like to say this GREAT volunteer company is UPPER MT. VOLUNTEER FIRE COMPANY,(located in lewiston ny) the one we originally called THEY ARE THE WORST (at least that i have had to deal with)
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EMS
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Citizens wake up before it's too late. Contact Erie County Emergency Services and the NYS Health Department to complain about this problem. This problem is not new just worse than ever and your life is in danger. Your ambulance crews are waiting hours in ER's unable to respond to your call for help. It's a familiar scene at many emergency departments (EDs): gridlock in the ambulance arrival area, with gurneys lined up and emergency medical services (EMS) crews waiting to offload patients. Such delays put patients at risk, prevent paramedics from responding to other calls, and disrupt patient flow throughout the hospital. In 2006, EMS leaders reported that, over the previous five years, the average wait time for handing off ambulance patients to EDs had doubled: from 20 to more than 45 minutes. In some hospitals,delays stretch to several hours.
A July 2006 memo from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) shed light on the issue. According to CMS, "parking" patients with EMS staff in attendance is "not a solution" to ED overcrowding. Failure to release ambulances back into the field in a timely manner, CMS warned, "may result in a violation of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) and raises serious concerns for patient care and the provision of emergency services in a community." Take action now!
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Bluegrass Boy
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While I have only been in WNY E.M.S. for a few years, I cannot believe what is going on. Coming from an out-of-state service to this has been a real eye opener for me. Yes, the EMS system as a whole is flawed in WNY, this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. Yes, there are extended delays at the emergency rooms. Yes, Rural / Metro pays their EMT's less then Kentucky Fried Chicken pays their employees. Yes, Rural / Metro has a hard time staffing an appropriate number of ambulances, so they drop buses instead. Yes, 911 calls are secondary & NOT a priority, but a guaranteed pay transport from one hospital to another, or from a hospital to a nursing home (even though this might leave the city or suburb without an in service ambulance) is. Yes, the city of Buffalo and any of the surrounding suburbs covered by Rural / Metro can be without ambulances at any given time. Yes, if someone dials 911 FROM INSIDE AN EMERGENCY ROOM & requests an ambulance, they get one!
Why is this? Because none of the EMS board members in the city or suburbs has the guts to stand up for what is right & make it better. I see & hear alot of griping, but so far nothing has been done to change things.
Now, if you contact ADI or Buffalo Fire, I know they will tell you multiple calls went out in the city of Buffalo on Thursday March 6th between 1700 - 1800 hrs. Go ahead and ask them how many times Buffalo Fire was told they do not have an ambulance for the call for help they were responding to. By my calculations, it was just about all of them. But, since Rural / Metro pays the city a couple hundred thousand dollars a year to operate there, they can do what they want.
Things are no better in the suburbs either. Just ask a certain Cheektowaga volunteer fire department how many times they had to wait close to 20 minutes for an ambulance or how many times they had to call Lancaster Ambulance to cover the calls in Rural / Metro's contracted area? How about a certain Hamburg volunteer agancy requesting an ambulance - and they get one coming from Buffalo? Oh, and we can't forget that ADI has been holding 911 calls quite frequently because there are no ambulances available.
What about West Seneca? Some of their volunteer fire departments have one or two ambulances, that are state certified, state of the art vehicles & capable of transporting to any hospital. Problem is - you have volunteers that do not want to wait at the e/r for an extended period of time. Therefore, Rural / Metro gets called in to transport (god only knows where they are coming from or how long it will take them to get to a NON-CONTRACTED area & the town resident now has a $400.00 plus ambulance bill. Of course, if said volunteer agancy(s) with the ambulance(s) would transport, there would not be any cost to the patient. Are the West Seneca tax payers paying for these rolling billboards to look pretty outside their homes when instead they could be taking them to the hospital? If I lived there, I would be good & fired up!
Does anyone think it's about time something changes & the buck stops being passed? The only good thing I have to say is this - I am greatful that I do not live in one of these areas but in an area covered by another agency, that is there when you need them.
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bob
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as a town 911 dispatch for more than fifteen yrs. lately i see this every day,this is not uncommon but the norm. just this evening there was 8 rural metro units tied up at ecmc, thanks to ec.rules. these units are not being released to handle all medical emergencies. but ec health dept. will not address this problem. i wish you would ask the health dept what they are going to do,to solve this problem. we need your help. tks
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maryann bielanin
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Have needed the services of Rural Metro twice in the last 4 months, they were here within l0 minutes, most helpful people and very caring. It's a shame that people abuse this emergency service.
Sincerely
Maryann Bielanin
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Judge it!
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