Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-02-21
You Get an Ambulance Quick
If They're Not Already Busy
By Jack Jonas

! Oy JOCk JOUOS
II you need an ambulance In
a hurry. call Hobart 2-3322.
You may get one right away,
and you may not.
If you're in really bad shape,
and the operator who takes your
call knows it, you probably will
be. picked up by f1remen on one
Of the Fire Departments two
emergency squads. They get
there faster in most cases.
It may seem like an eternity
until the ambulance comes to
carry you to a hospital. The
biggest delay In getting an in
jured man or woman off the
streets comes between the. time
the ambulance is called and the
time it arrives on the accident
scene.
One Of the reasons is that
Washington has only four emer-
gency ambulances serving $780,
900 people. In addition. there
are the two emergency squads,
set up theoretically for fire calls,
but actually sent out on other
types of accidents also.
Two in Bad Shape.
Two Of the emergency ambu-
lances are Health Department
vehicles manned by District Cen
eral Hospital interns. These am
balances are in such bad shape
that the interns are fearful Of
riding on them.
One intern recently refused to
go along on a night call. The
ambulance on which he was sup
posed to ride had no lights, and
the siren wasn't working.
The interns protested about
the poor condition Of the ambu-
lanceS. and city officials bought
new tires.
The other two ambulances are
operated by Emergency and
Casualty Hospitals, which keep
them in top shade. These are
operated by contract between the
city and the hospitals. Each Of
the hospitals must have one Of
its ambulanceS available to the
city at all times. Casualty Hos
pital sometimes makes another
of its ambulanceS available. al
though it is not required to do
so under its contract.
Unhappy About Operation.
If you are able to tell those
manning the emergency ambu-
lances where you want to be
taken for treatment, you will be
taken to the hospital Of your
choice.
Otherwise, you will be taken
to District General Hospital, to
Emergency Hospital. or to Cas-
ualty Hospital. The people who
dispatch the ambulances say.
this is because these three are
the only ones set up for full
time emergency service. At the
others. normally, a doctor has
to be located to treat the emer-
gency patient.
The people who work with the
emergency ambulance service,
are unhappy with the systems
operation. The potential for al
emergency is woefully lacking.
But. they add. nobody seems in
terested in doing anything about
it.
A 15-month study was made
by a special committee set up
by Congress to look into health
services here. A subcommittee
came up with four recommends
tions for improving emergency
ambulance service here. That was
eight months ago. None of the
recommendations has been adop-
ted.
No Refusals Recently.
The subcommittee apparently
found evidence that some hos
pitfalls turned away emergency
cases because the patients did
not have the money to pay for
treatment.
The committee recommended
that Cali hospitals adopt the
policy Of accepting into the
emergency room any patient
brought in by the emergency
ambulance service. Discharge or
transfer arrangements are to be
made only after the patient has
been adequately examined and it
is deemed safe to move him."
The hospitals dispute this.
They say they will accept all
emergency cases.
The operators who take the
emergency calls say they have
had no trouble recently with
hospitals refusing emergency
cases. This may be, they add,
because they are sent to District
General. Emergency or Casualty,
where the first examination is of
the patients injuries.
Ambulance Is Problem.
The principal difficulty seems
| to be In finding an available