Excerpts from chicago.cbsocal.com:
The city’s inspector general is calling for Mayor Emanuel to step in and do something about excessive Chicago ambulance response times that can endanger people with medical emergencies.
The standard ambulance response time should be six minutes. Yet, over the past three years, some response times greatly exceed that standard. These include:
–a 16-minute response for a woman hit by a truck at the corner of Washington and LaSalle
–a 22-minute response to get to a girl shot near the 1400 block of North Sedgwick
–a 33-minute response for a senior with chest pains.
Chicago Fire Commissioner Jose Santiago did agree three years ago that at least five additional ambulances were needed but has yet to add them.
A 2013 Inspector General report said ambulances only met national response standards 58 percent of the time. The recommendation is 90 percent. By 2015, the Inspector General found that suggested ambulance response reforms were not implemented. The report also says the City of Chicago inaccurately averages response times.
While calls for fire-related emergencies have declined, calls for ambulances have increased over the last three years.
Mayor Emanuel has directed the fire commissioner to submit recommendations on additional ambulances by the end of the first quarter of 2018.
“The city will diligently work to determine the appropriate locations for any additional ambulances,” a statement said.
thanks Ron
