Friday, March 28, 2014

It takes almost 10 minutes to get an ambulance

From the NY Post:

Fire Department ambulances take 9 minutes and 22 seconds on average to arrive at medical emergencies from the time a call is first placed to 911, new city data shows.

It’s the first time that the city has been able to measure response times from the time a call is placed rather than from the time a call is assigned to the FDNY or NYPD dispatcher.

The previous measurement put ambulance response times to life-threatening medical emergencies at 6 minutes and 45 seconds — a nearly 3-minute difference that alarmed City Council members.

“I’m troubled by the new numbers I’ve seen,” Fire and Criminal Justice Services Committee Chair Elizabeth Crowley (D-Queens) said Thursday morning at a budget hearing at City Hall. “Nine minutes and 22 seconds for life-threatening emergencies is too high.”

5 comments:

J said...

“Nine minutes and 22 seconds for life-threatening emergencies is too high.”yeesh

liz(mrs.)crowley is chairwoman of this?what?

while your loved one is stroking,or you just got hit by an aggressive driver running the light or you got shot in the street,just hum led zeppelin's kashmir too pass the time

Anonymous said...

Since 90% of 'emergency' calls are complete bullshit what do you expect. People use ems as a taxi service and a personal doctor. There is simply not enough ambulances to answer the amount of calls. Educate the public on when to call 911 and maybe the time will improve.

Anonymous said...

What's the point of having an FDNY Engine company show up 15 minutes after a 911 call for a person who's having an apparent heart attack when there is already an FDNY EMS ambulance on the scene with its crew treating the patient that arrived 8 minutes earlier?

Anonymous said...

Keep the local volunteer ambulance number handy. They are a lot faster. And nicer.

Anonymous said...

The number of FDNY EMS crews working per tour were reduced under Bloomberg after 2008. Also, Bloomberg fought to keep the more accurate version of response times (initial call to unit arrival) from being published, because it indeed made response times look worse.

It's more of the Bloomberg legacy, but it's incumbent upon the new administration to clean up his mess.