"There (are) a number of different circumstances in our jurisdiction that we have down to zero ambulances available to be able to respond out those life-saving incidents," says Fire Captain Steve Aubert with Contra Costa County Fire Protection District.
He says the shortage of ambulance services is a problem faced by emergency responders across the country. Aubert says Contra Costa County has roughly 30 ambulances to respond to 911 calls.
"Our ambulance services have been impacted by the pandemic, by the recent events that are going on, but also a large use of the ambulance service just for normal calls going to the hospitals," he says.
To reduce the strain on the health care services, Contra Costa County Health is urging residents to call 911 only in cases of a true emergency.
"Several hospitals in the community are reporting critically high level of patients occupying beds with more than 1,200 inpatients reported throughout the county. Hospital emergency departments are similarly impacted," it wrote in a statement.
"Just because you want to an ambulance ride, it doesn't necessarily mean that that's going to get you into an emergency room any faster," he explains.
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Bay Area man with diabetes on dialysis says changes to his health care plan puts his life at risk
Captain Aubert says some instances of an emergency could be:
He points out that ride share programs are offered throughout the county for those who don't have transportation.
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And finally, consider urgent care instead of the ER.
"We do urge and encourage everyone to utilize other resources such as the advice nurses, such as urgent care, that is more apt to handle minor injuries and symptoms along those lines," says Captain Aubert.
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