Philadelphia Woman Dies During Botched EMS Call — (EMSResponder.com)
This is scary stuff, and I'm certainly happy to not be affiliated with Philadelphia's EMS system.
Philadelphia Woman Dies During Botched EMS Call — (EMSResponder.com)
To understand how far away the BLS unit (not even a medic unit) that responded to the call had to come, consider that Google Maps shows the travel distance from their station as 14.3 miles. At normal driving speed that would be a 24-minute response. Even if they were speeding recklessly all the way to the scene, it would have been perhaps 17 minutes. Not to mention that the crew probably wasn't familiar with the Northeast section of Philadelphia if they are normally based in South Philly.
In my mind as an EMS provider, this is a case of the City of Philadelphia not cooperating with neighboring jurisdictions to provide the most appropriate medical care for its residents. My first-due response area in Montgomery County includes property up to the Philadelphia line, but not on the other side of it. My squad has never been called for mutual aid over the Philadelphia border. In my experience, it appears that Philadelphia would prefer to have someone die in the street than to pick up the phone and call a neighboring county to request mutual aid.
What squads outside of Philadelphia were theoretically closer than BLS unit "Medic 43-B?" From my calculations, Bensalem, Cheltenham, Bryn Athyn, and Second Alarmers' in Abington were closer than the responding Philadelphia unit's home station.
In defense of the Medic 43-B crew, I don't know where they were located when they were dispatched. It's possible that they were roving, or at a hospital dropping off another patient. I also give credit to the two fire crews who were first responders on the scene. Is the solution to the problem to have transport-capable medic engines?
Philadelphia Woman Dies During Botched EMS Call — (EMSResponder.com)
To understand how far away the BLS unit (not even a medic unit) that responded to the call had to come, consider that Google Maps shows the travel distance from their station as 14.3 miles. At normal driving speed that would be a 24-minute response. Even if they were speeding recklessly all the way to the scene, it would have been perhaps 17 minutes. Not to mention that the crew probably wasn't familiar with the Northeast section of Philadelphia if they are normally based in South Philly.
In my mind as an EMS provider, this is a case of the City of Philadelphia not cooperating with neighboring jurisdictions to provide the most appropriate medical care for its residents. My first-due response area in Montgomery County includes property up to the Philadelphia line, but not on the other side of it. My squad has never been called for mutual aid over the Philadelphia border. In my experience, it appears that Philadelphia would prefer to have someone die in the street than to pick up the phone and call a neighboring county to request mutual aid.
What squads outside of Philadelphia were theoretically closer than BLS unit "Medic 43-B?" From my calculations, Bensalem, Cheltenham, Bryn Athyn, and Second Alarmers' in Abington were closer than the responding Philadelphia unit's home station.
In defense of the Medic 43-B crew, I don't know where they were located when they were dispatched. It's possible that they were roving, or at a hospital dropping off another patient. I also give credit to the two fire crews who were first responders on the scene. Is the solution to the problem to have transport-capable medic engines?
posted by Scott C. Savett at
4:27 PM
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