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Fulton County official on ambulance response delays
Fulton County Commission Chairman Rob Pitts says delays in ambulance response times may continue due to a "health service backlog".
ATLANTA - Any family safety plan might want to also include a run to the hospital in an emergency rather than calling an ambulance.
"This is what it has come to," said Robb Pitts, who chairs the Fulton County government.
Mr. Pitts, the long-term political figure in Atlanta, is talking about the state of emergency response right now.
A Grady EMS ambulance can be delayed getting into a neighborhood or to an auto wreck by an hour, even more.
In the city, firefighters also go out on the calls. Nathan Bailey, who leads the fire union, said on occasion a fire crew must wait way too long for the ambulance paramedics to arrive.
Firefighters cannot transport the patient.
Pitts explained the hospital staff is encountering "extraordinary conditions" due to the pandemic.
The chairman explained what often takes place. The ambulance crew with a patient on board arrives at the hospital only to find they cannot offload the patient because a nurse has no room to accept the patient. So, the truck must remain at Grady and cannot immediately go out to the next call.
Pitts does not have an answer to the health service logjam. He does plan to call in hospital administrators to discuss it.
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