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Fire union urges DC Health to act on ambulance drop-off delays at hospital EDs
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Summary
IAFF Local 36 told the Committee on Health that extended ambulance patient offload times (APOT) threaten response capacity and public safety and asked DC Health to use regulatory levers, incentives and active monitoring to speed transfers at hospitals with prolonged delays.
The International Association of Firefighters Local 36 told the Committee on Health that long ambulance patient offload times at some hospital emergency departments are reducing emergency-system capacity and endangering public safety.
Luis Blanco, sergeant at arms for Local 36, said the APOT collaborative established weekly reporting and a 30-minute target but that several hospitals, including Sibley, GW and Howard, had not made sufficient improvements. "We cannot sustain units waiting over an hour for a hospital bed," Blanco said. He described a case in which a person who left an ambulance while waiting allegedly carjacked a vehicle in a hospital driveway and caused a fatal collision.
Blanco asked the Committee to direct DC Health as regulatory authority to implement real-time incentives and disincentives and to tie special designations such as stroke, cardiac or trauma center status to meeting APOT standards.
Chair Henderson said committee staff will follow up with DC Health to learn what recommendations were delivered in prior APOT reports and to press the agency on next steps, noting that poorer APOT performance can have cascading effects on 911 response.
Ending: The committee asked Local 36 to share the APOT reports and plans so members could press DC Health for follow-up and possible regulatory or contractual remedies.
