WAKE COUNTY, N.C. — Counties across the nation are reporting high numbers of 911 calls, including Wake County which is experiencing historic call volume.
Wake County EMS received more than 11,000 calls to 911 in August
Some challenges include staffing shortages, overwhelmed hospitals and more “non-emergent” calls
EMS has “frequently” experienced instances when not a single Wake County EMS unit is available in the county
Wake County EMS reminds people to rely on primary care doctors or urgent care for non-emergencies
For the first time ever, Wake County EMS had more than 10,000 calls in May, June and July. In August, it had more than 11,000 calls to 911. This compares to about 8,500 calls a month during the same time in 2019.
Brian Brooks, the assistant chief and public information officer for Wake County EMS, says there are many reasons why this is happening.
Brooks says “virtual vacancies” are part of the problem when it comes to staffing.
“These are people that are on our roster that are unable to work mostly due to things like military leave, FMLA, worker’s comp, COVID quarantine and parental leave,” Brooks said.
There are also certain education requirements that applicants need to meet in order to be hired. Brooks says many schools that offer the required training were closed last year due to COVID-19, and that has impacted the number of applicants.
Since they don’t have enough people to work, Brooks says Wake County EMS has to put eight to 10 ambulances out of service every morning. Those are units that should be on the street and responding to calls.
On top of all that, hospitals are also overwhelmed.
“The effect of the hospitals being overflowed also affects us, because we can’t get into the hospitals and turn over patient care and get back to the streets, which causes a delay in our units becoming available,” Brooks said.
Brooks says Wake County EMS went to “level zero” on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. He says a “level zero” does not mean there are no ambulances ready to respond, but rather that there were no Wake County EMS units available in the county. The county has mutual aid agreements with nearby agencies, and those agencies help with coverage during these types of situations.
“We don’t track how long we stay at that level, only that it happened. These instances usually clear up quickly as units at the hospital will mark back in service. Over the past four months, this has been happening frequently, possibly daily,” Brooks said.
“It’s stressful from many different angles," Brooks said. "One, the call volume alone, the crews are not getting a break. They are not getting to eat lunch. They are checking in at the station and not returning for 12 hours.
"They are getting calls from the hospital as they are leaving the hospital parking lot,” Brooks said."They are getting calls from the hospital as they are leaving the hospital parking lot,” Brooks said.
All of these factors add up and are impacting response times.
“In a perfect world, we would be at everybody’s side within five minutes or so. Unfortunately today with the call volume, we are not making a five-minute response time. Emergent calls, we are hoping to be there within 12 minutes and the non-emergent calls, when they are held, we don’t necessarily have a timeframe. Those calls are deemed non-emergent for a reason and they are typically safe to hold,” Brooks said.
To help relieve the problem, Brooks is reminding people to rely on primary care doctors or urgent care centers for situations that are not true emergencies.
To learn more about the application and hiring process for Wake County EMS, visit its website.
