Sacramento First Responders Say Pandemic Has Led To Longer Emergency Room Wait Times

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — The pandemic has exposed galore things erstwhile it comes to deficiencies successful our wellness attraction care system, and 1 contented has reached the tipping constituent for archetypal responders: hold times.

“It is not the work of a 911 bureau to augment infirmary staff,” Said Cat. Parker Wilbourne with the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District.

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Wilbourne says backups are present the norm. Tuesday evening, 8 ambulances were waiting to driblet disconnected patients successful the UC Davis Medical Center exigency room.

“We can’t person our extremity sitting connected walks for upwards of 8 hours astatine a time,” Wilbourne said.

Fire chiefs and Emergency Medical Services administrators warned of the contented successful a missive past August, but it’s been going connected for a decade.

“And the vexation is astatine a boiling point,” Wilbourne said.

He says staffing issues person been compounded by the pandemic, which has prompted quarantine protocols and enactment COVID-19 patients successful disposable infirmary beds.

“Just past week, we dropped disconnected 40 cots to 4 antithetic hospitals due to the fact that they said they didn’t person capable beds,” Wilbourne said.

And it’s costing millions. Last November alone, the portion spent $500,000 for archetypal responders to hold with those patients.

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“We are astatine a constituent wherever we are consolidating patients, truthful 1 paramedic that’s connected that partition could perchance beryllium caring for 4 parents successful that hallway,” Wilbourne said. “So it’s astir a triage wrong the exigency country that we’re providing.”

That is perchance exposing firefighters and EMS unit adjacent further to the COVID-19.

Photos from Metro Fire amusement backups are happening astatine each hospitals successful the Sacramento area: Kaiser, Sutter and Mercy San Juan. Wilbourne said it’s go a nationalist information issue.

“That mightiness mean your mother, your father, your sibling. If they person a cardiac oregon immoderate benignant of emergency, they mightiness beryllium waiting an further 5-10 minutes for an further ambulance that’s coming from a further region away,” helium said.

UC Davis says determination are a precocious fig of patients calling 911 and asking for an ambulance for non-emergency needs, and that arriving astatine the infirmary by ambulance does not warrant the diligent volition beryllium seen immediately.

The infirmary sent america a connection saying:

“The unit is moving hard to dainty each patient. However, anyone coming to the exigency section should expect longer than mean hold times owed to the record-high fig of patients. Twice successful the past 3 weeks, our exigency section has acceptable caller records for the astir patients seen successful a azygous time — and our infirmary has been present for 150 years.”

The occupation presents a bigger question: should nationalist work agencies beryllium footing the measure for backstage hospitals?

“It is not the work of the occurrence section oregon a backstage ambulance institution to make solutions for hospitals they request to negociate their exigency rooms,” Wilbourne said.

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A task unit has been successful spot since 2015 to travel up with solutions. Other counties person opted to person EMS unit driblet disconnected little acute patients successful the ER waiting room.

Rachel Wulff