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By Miriam Raftery
November 30, 2015 (San Diego’s East County) – After a reader contacted East County Magazine raising concerns over a circuitous route taken by an ambulance drive to transport her mother to the hospital, we reached out to Mercy Medical Transportation—and got a prompt response advising us that the driver erred and is no longer employed with the company.
Sue Merritt wrote to inform us that her elderly mother became ill on September 27th with dizziness, nausea, and could not stand or sit up. Merritt’s father called 911, then notified Merritt.
Merritt, who lives in Jamul, 10 miles from her parents’ home on Willow Glen Drive near Dehesa Road, says she arrived there before the ambulance or fire department. She then followed the ambulance to Grossmont Hospital and says, “I could not believe the route they took to get there!”
The hospital is normally a 20 to 30 minute drive time, but due to a convoluted route that the ambulance driver took, she says, “It was at least an extra 40-60 minutes to get to the hospital. I was so nervous for my Mom…If she had been having a heart attack, most likely she would have died.”
Merritt also questioned whether the ambulance had GPS and suggested drivers should be familiar with the area.
We contacted Richard Roesch, president of Mercy Medical Transportation. He responded immediately and within 24 hours, advised us that “The EMT [emergency medical technician] that took the wrong route on the way to the hospital no longer is employed by mercy. Yes, that EMT took a very long route to get there,” he acknowledged, adding, “He had two different methods in order to get there faster and he failed to use those methods.”
All Mercy ambulances have modern equipment including GPS/AVL and MDT with mapping technology, Roesch further advised.
Despite the delay in this case, Roesch advised that in the company’s October report to the County, “we have exceeded our contractual requirements of 90% of calls in 30 minutes or less every month. In fact the last several months have been at 95%.”
The County mirrors state standards of 30 minute response times or less in rural areas, though some major counties have adopted shorter response time requirements. San Diego County also requires 30 minutes or less for wilderness areas, though the state requires only that wilderness regions be reached as soon as possible, with no time limit established.
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