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SFFD EMS reports hospital delays and December drop in ED ROSC; community paramedics report 71% drop in top high users
Summary
Assistant Deputy Chief Tony Malloy and Community Paramedicine staff briefed the Fire Commission on Jan. 8 about ambulance off‑load delays, a December decline in ED ROSC, and a Community Paramedicine program that reduced top high users by more than 70% in November.
Assistant Deputy Chief Tony Malloy and Community Paramedicine staff briefed the Fire Commission on Jan. 8 about EMS system pressures and program results.
Malloy said the department is working with the county LEMSA and hospitals to reduce ambulance off‑load delays. "We have ambulances delayed at the hospital for over 2 hours on some occasions," he told the commission, and said the delay problem is being addressed at county and state levels as well as in local hospital meetings. He added that call volumes were lower in November but busier in December and January so far, and that the department's quality assurance team is investigating a drop in patients who maintained return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) through arrival at the emergency department in December.
April Sohn, reporting for Community Paramedicine, described work by SORT and other teams to reduce frequent use of EMS. In November, she said, EMS 6 "achieved a 71.43% reduction of the top high users in the city," citing casework that moved repeat callers into treatment or supportive placements. Sohn also reported improved shelter access: "We now have access to shelter beds on the holidays and weekends," she said, and described cases in which teams coordinated emergency department care, short‑term recovery placement and referrals into residential treatment.
Sohn said the division has participated in panels on implementing SB 43 and on mobile crisis response development, and that the program continues Spanish-language training and expanded class offerings for volunteers and NERT-related activities. The commission heard that NERT and volunteer training remain in high demand; a deputy noted a waitlist near 1,000 people and plans for about 26 classes to graduate roughly 275 volunteers in the coming year.
Commissioners asked for further detail on ROSC trends, a breakdown of call volumes by corridor and more data on how the community paramedicine units triage and place high-frequency users. Staff said they would return with additional analytics at a later meeting.
