CINCINNATI — Could ambulance trips to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center be making things worse for patients?
Despite all of the life-saving care EMTs provide to patients en route to the Clifton hospital, there’s little they can do about road conditions, particularly the bumpy ride on Burnet Avenue that one EMT described to WCPO as possibly the “worst in the city.”
“The last run we had was a kindergartener, and when I opened up the back he asked why we were driving on the railroad tracks,” said Clint Green, an EMT with the Independence Fire District in Northern Kentucky. "That's how rough it is."
And it wasn’t the first time he’d heard something like that, Green said.
“It’s unbelievable how rough it is, just that short section of road,” he said.
And he’s seen a lot of road: He’s been driving an ambulance for more than 30 years.
While Green didn't indicate the roughness of the road actually made patients' injuries worse, he did say a short stretch of roadway on Burnet Ave. just outside Cincinnati Children’s is one of the worst he’s ever seen.
“Our concern is the safety, the care and comfort of our patients,” Green said. “When you have somebody that’s sick and you start hitting that rough section of road -- it’s hard jolts in the back, bumping up and down.
“Right there next to the hospital sometimes it’s unbearable for patients,” he said.
During an interview with WCPO, Green invited Mayor John Cranley and member of city council to take a ride in an ambulance along the stretch, "to see just how bad it is."
WCPO took the road to see just how rough the pavement is. Watch that video in the viewer below:
