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EMS facing a ‘growing problem’
It’s a pattern repeated at least several times a week each winter in Chester County: Emergency medical service workers have just picked up an injured person and have contacted a hospital only to be told the facility won’t accept more patients.
Unless the patient is in critical condition or demands to be taken to that particular hospital, another hospital has to be contacted to see if it has room. Some nights, three or four hospitals are busy and go on "check status," meaning emergency workers must call ahead before bringing any patients in for treatment. In many instances, EMS workers are told to take the patient somewhere else.
"It’s a problem throughout the county," East Whiteland EMS Captain Eric Nowaczyk said. "We understand hospitals are busy, but we still have a service to provide, and it’s tough to provide that service when we’re sent 20 minutes out of our way."
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It’s a pattern repeated at least several times a week each winter in Chester County: Emergency medical service workers have just picked up an injured person and have contacted a hospital only to be told the facility won’t accept more patients.
Unless the patient is in critical condition or demands to be taken to that particular hospital, another hospital has to be contacted to see if it has room. Some nights, three or four hospitals are busy and go on "check status," meaning emergency workers must call ahead before bringing any patients in for treatment. In many instances, EMS workers are told to take the patient somewhere else.
"It’s a problem throughout the county," East Whiteland EMS Captain Eric Nowaczyk said. "We understand hospitals are busy, but we still have a service to provide, and it’s tough to provide that service when we’re sent 20 minutes out of our way."
[Read More!]