Reported by: Hagit LimorA committee of the Cincinnati City Council met Tuesday to talk about whether the city has enough ambulances and about Hagit Limor’s I-Team investigation that raised questions earlier this month.
The Law and Public Safety committee came out full force to listen to Fire Chief Robert Wright present this report detailing the number of calls for transport to the hospital, and the number of times people have to wait.
Chairman Cecil Thomas opened the meeting with a call for an explanation from the fire chief about questions the I-Team raised about ambulances and other transport vehicles not being available when people needed a ride to the hospital.
Firefighters told us the city's ten transport units sometimes led to long waits.
As one firefighter said, "This is something that impacts people's lives."
Today, the fire chief told council members the department is working on the issue, training more paramedics, looking at comparisons with other cities, trying to gauge the money necessary to make for change.
Council member Jeff Berding asked the chief about the city's policy to transport anyone who calls for an ambulance, even for minor or questionable injuries. "Is that a good use?" he asked. "The answer, I think we'd agree is no. If someone has a laceration or flu-like symptoms or someone is drunk we don't need to use one of our ambulances to drive them to the hospital."
Chief Wright said, "That does tax the system. To what level it taxes the system, I don't know."
The vice president of a private EMS service offered to pay Cincinnati firefighters on their days off to staff his ambulances and make runs for the city.
"This would be at no additional charge to the city," said Tony Anteau, representing MedCorp Mobile Medical Services.
The chief and head of the firefighters union seemed lukewarm 'though they didn't rule it out.
Union President Marc Monahan said, "I've seen a lot of talk but it all boils down to money, and I haven't seen any proposals to spend any more money on the system."
Now he may get that proposal. Thomas and Berding agreed at the end of the meeting to draft a motion with solutions for the city to carry out.
We'll stay on this and let you know when that motion's introduced and most importantly, if it ever becomes a reality on the street.
