In an emergency, expect to wait 30 minutes for an ambulance in Atlanta

Earlier this year, CBS46 reported on the thousands of people in the city of Atlanta calling 911 and being placed on hold.
Now, a new CBS46 investigation shows even after callers get through to 911, delays don’t stop there. That investigation has uncovered in critical situations, the average Atlanta resident is waiting approximately 30 minutes for EMS to arrive.
When a city of Atlanta resident calls 911, they’re asked if they need police, fire or EMS. If a caller needs EMS, the 911 dispatcher will transfer that call to Grady EMS, which provides 911 services to the city of Atlanta and 16 other counties across Georgia.
Moments after a bad fall, Randy Hubbell knew his partner was in trouble, so he grabbed his phone and dialed 911.
“I need to get an ambulance over to our residence,” Hubbell told 911. “My partner has fallen down and he has hurt his hip.”
Hubbell made that call at 9:30 p.m. this past February. Forty minutes later, no ambulance had arrived at his Atlanta home, so he called again.
“We have the call, sir,” the Grady EMS dispatcher said. “And I do want to apologize. We are experiencing a delay. We have a very high call volume in your area. Has anything changed with his breathing or level of consciousness?”
“No, but he’s not mobile,” Hubbell answered. “Is there any new pain or bleeding?” the Grady EMS dispatcher asked. “No,” Hubbell replied.
“Okay. Given the high volume of calls we are experiencing, we are prioritizing your call based on his symptoms and there may be a significant wait,” the Grady dispatcher said. “One of our providers will be sent to evaluate you at your home within the next few hours based on our call volume.”
The fall broke Hubbell’s partner’s hip. While in severe pain, they waited. It took Grady EMS two hours to arrive.
“To be put in a queue because he wasn’t bleeding and he wasn’t having a cardiac experience, yet he was not mobile, he could not go to the bathroom and was experiencing a heavy degree of pain, it’s just very disappointing and sad,” Hubbell said.
More: www.cbs46.com/...

[@jackall-trades6149]

"What are you doing to do better?" What do you want them to do? People don't take care of themselves and are over reliant on hospitals. The pay is worse than fast food or retail. The call volume has increased fatigue of the workers to almost unbearable levels. And the liabilities make all the stressors not worth it.