If you're a fan of the story,
and I mean we sure hope you are,
you're aware of our reporting on
the ambulance company American
Medical Response and their
struggles in Multnomah County.
We've reported how AM R crews were unable
to immediately respond to over 6009 one
One calls in just the last six months.
It's what's called Level 0.
Someone calls 911 and no ambulas
are available to send their way.
But it turns out this is not
just a problem here.
Investigative reporter Evan Watn
spent the day in Clark County,
which also uses AMR for ambulance services.
If there's one thing that you
believe when you call 911,
it's that someone will come to p
save more lives.
But hundreds of times each year,
a dispatcher answers and realizs
they don't have an ambulance.
AMR is Level 0 that they consen.
Happy. We're currently Level 0.
We'll get someone started
as soon as they're available
in Clark County.
Dispatch has recorded 857 of the
Level 0 incidents so far this y.
These are 911 calls for seizure,
overdoses, strokes and heart problems,
time sensitive emergencies.
Now, it's important to recognize scale here.
This stack shows the 857 Level 0
calls in Clark County since Jan.
But dispatchers have received
25,000 calls in total this year.
So Level 0 incidents only repret
about 3% of 911 calls. But stil.
That's more than 850 times when someone
called 911 and AMR didn't have n
ambulance crew available to sen,
which most people admit is too often.
I would say over the last couple years,
the rate of Level 0 has
definitely had a uptick.
Firefighters respond to 911 calls too,
but when AMR is at Level 0,
they're often left waiting.
We start treating a patient and
then we have to wait for an
ambulance to arrive to transpor,
and sometimes we've had
wait times up to 45 minutes.
Clark County District 6 Fire Chf
Kristen Mauer says it's frustra.
Firefighters can get discouraged
their trucks aren't built to transport.
There's longer hospital wait
times because hospitals are
having a hard time staffing,
so the ambulances get hung
up at the hospitals.
Then on the flip side,
the ambulances are also having
a hard time hiring paramedics.
She lists another big problem wn
people call 911 for non emergens
or they call multiple times
like around here. People call
911 just for the stupid things,
like the skateboarders.
AM R service in Clark County is better
than others in Multnomah County.
AM R has been at level 0 on abot
10% of 911 calls so far this ye,
compared to about 3% in Clark County.
Denise Timmons lives in Vancouv.
She says she can get angry when a Mr.
ambulances are late to respond.
When I had my stroke and aneurysms on my
brain, they my doctor told me if I was.
A few minutes later, I would have died.
But she says paramedics
and Emt's need grace, too.
You got to stop and understand there's
other people that need help at that time.
That's why people don't keep that in mind.
You know they can only there's
only so many ambulances,
so many fire trucks that can respond.
First responders in Clark County
recently started tearing 911 calls with
a new program called Nurse Navigation.
And they've added basic life sut
units for lower acuity calls.
Mauer says little bites
like these changes can help.
We need more paramedics and we need more
paramedics to staff more ambula.
But that will only fix part of the problem.
We'll also need more nurses and hospital
staff and hospital beds to get e
patients off the ambulance so te
ambulance can go back into serv.
I'm here with Evan now.
And is the reason that they get
these level zeros the same reas?
We're seeing in Multnomah Count,
well AMR works in both places, right,
in Multnomah County They've blamed the
issues on the two paramedic sysm
in Multnomah County saying thate
paramedic shortage makes it difficult
for them to staff the ambulance.
That's not the case in Clark Co.
It's a one in one paramedic and.
So AMR can't say hey,
that's the problem here.
It could be an increase in call volume.
It could be staffing shortages t
hospital or the paramedic and EMT side
or a combination of all these factors.
Something more to look into.
Interestingly,
AMR declined to interview with .
On this subject again.
So the fire departments here
are left to innovate this.
And just today actually,
the Clark Cowlitz Fire Rescue
received an ambulance that fire
department paramedics will oper.
The Cowlitz Indian Tribe gifted
the fire department this.
$800,000 in November for two
ambulances A voter passed.
A tax levy means the departments
hired 25 new emergency responde,
including six paramedics,
to work this ambulance and anot.
You can see it still needs
the paint job on there.
The concept is when a Mr.
is at level 0 delayed or when ambulances
are all concentrated elsewhere.
Clark Cowlitz Fire Rescue can respond to
medical calls and transport when needed.
It's not the first plan of actin
but shows fire departments thing
proactively at trying to make up for a Mr.
shortcomings here showing that you know this.
This has been an issue for a while now.
This has been in the works.
People noticing this for years.
But as you heard in that
story just moments ago,
an increase in Level 0 calls from the
fire department's perspective an
increasing problem around our whole region.
Yeah, well, innovative solution.
Thanks for that, Evan.
Appreciate it.
Good stuff.