Hollister woman questions counties emergency response
In San Benito County, just two ambulances are active at all times of the day. The state recommends one advanced support ambulance for every 51,000 people. The county only has a population of about 60,000.
Tuesday, a Hollister woman and registered nurse says she waited more than 30 minutes for an ambulance to arrive when she called 911 after her husband collapsed in their backyard.
“I found my loved one in the backyard on the cement not able to speak to me. So I immediately called 911,” Eva Sosa said.
Sosa says within minutes, the fire department and police arrived, but to her shock they had to wait about 30 more minutes for the ambulance to arrive.
“Why is it, it was over a half hour wait for him to be taken to the hospital?” Sosa said. “What if this was a real emergency where a loved one has no pulse?”
The county requires a 10 minute response time for their ALS ambulances, but San Benito County emergency services says in this case they were only responding code 2. That means AMR, the counties contracted ambulance provider, could head to the call with no sirens because it was non life-threatening.
According to county EMS, having just two ambulances active is actually more than the state requires based on their population.
“The 911 response system is based on call volume, and the recommended call volume by the state…we run about 300 calls a month Santa Clara County runs 300 calls a day,” San Benito County EMS Coordinator Kris Mangano said.
San Benito County also works with Santa Clara and Monterey counties, and if San Benito doesn’t have an ambulance available mutual aid is there to assist.
“And they’re usually here within 30 minutes for a 911 call,” Mangano said.
Based on the number of calls they receive, Mangano says it would be a waste to have more units out on the streets, because AMR meets their required response times more than the necessary 90%.
“So we can add ambulances at anytime just based on our call volume they wouldn’t be utilized, and it would be a waste. So at this point, with the call volume its appropriate to have the two ambulances,” Mangano said.
San Benito County EMS says on weekends and holiday’s, they have a third ambulance available. The county also says, if you need to go to the hospital but it’s not life-threatening to try to drive yourself to the hospital.
