Profile of EMS Dispatches and Transports

Table 14 gives preliminary data on the number of EMS dispatches made by the Los Angeles City Fire Department on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. On a typical day the city receives from 700-1,000 EMS calls in a twenty-four hour period. Wednesday saw a substantial drop in transports even though the number of EMS calls did not exceed that for a typical day. Preliminary data provided by Goodhew Ambulance, indicates that between Wednesday, and the lifting of the curfew six days later, their Los Angeles crews responded to 1,682 dispatches, including civil disturbance related ones (Stern, 1992b). Goodhew typically receives between 360 to 370 dispatches per day, Monday through Friday. This dropped to 280 total area wide dispatches per day. Data is not available on how many total transports were made by private ambulances. As noted, Goodhew reported 130 dispatches. Goodhew administrators believe that there were sufficient ambulances to provide transport and that mutual aid from McCormik Ambulance Company was not needed. After communication failure protocols were instituted, EMTs were required to go to the nearest hospital. The EMSA survey found that they either chose the nearest hospital emergency department (64%), were dispatched to one by the satellite EOC (29%), or requested one from Medical Alert Center (MAC) (3%)(EMSA survey).

Medical Care for the Injured

Continue to Transport of the Injured by Non-EMS Personnel

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