A 69-year-old man struggling to breathe while already using oxygen and a CPAP machine became the latest example of an ongoing problem in Scioto County:
Finding enough emergency medical personnel to answer the call.
Dispatchers received the call shortly after 4 a.m. The man was having persistent difficulty breathing despite being on five liters of oxygen.
A second alert went out minutes later.
When the originally toned squad did not respond, dispatchers called for another EMS unit. Scioto EMS District Squad 2 acknowledged the call and responded.
But the search for help wasn’t over.
About 40 minutes later, Squad 2 radioed dispatch asking for Union Township Fire Department — or any available fire department — to assist.
Their message was blunt:
“We need more hands.”
Union Township was toned.
Five minutes passed without a response.
Dispatch then called Otway Fire Department. Union eventually marked en route, and Squad 2 also requested Valley Township EMS before later canceling that request.
The crew then asked for assistance from Rosemount’s Squad 12.
For one medical emergency, dispatchers and responders had worked through multiple agencies trying to assemble enough people to handle the call.
Not a New Problem
Scioto County’s EMS shortage has been building for years.
The county does not operate one large centralized ambulance service covering every community. Instead, emergency medical coverage is spread among township and district squads, including Nile Township, the Scioto EMS District, Minford, Rarden, Valley, Vernon, South Webster, Green Township, Washington Township and Clay Township squads based in Rubyville and Rosemount.
That system depends on having enough EMTs, Advanced EMTs and paramedics available when the pager goes off.
And sometimes there simply aren’t enough.
SCDN has previously reported cases where dispatchers called squad after squad trying to find an available ambulance.
In one particularly troubling case, a dispatcher ultimately advised a woman to take her own mother to the hospital because no ambulance was available to respond.
The latest breathing emergency shows the problem has not disappeared.
This time, an EMS unit did respond. But once there, the crew still needed more personnel and dispatchers had to reach beyond the original squad for help.
The Ambulance Is Only Part of the Equation
When people hear there is an EMS shortage, it can be easy to picture a shortage of ambulances.
But an ambulance sitting in a station does little good without trained people to staff it.
Scioto County’s emergency medical system has historically depended heavily on local volunteers and part-time personnel. Those responders need training, certification and the ability to leave whatever they are doing when an emergency call comes in.
That becomes especially difficult during overnight hours, when fewer people may be available.
A breathing emergency also isn’t necessarily a one-person job.
A seriously ill patient may need oxygen management, monitoring, medication, lifting, movement to the ambulance and continued treatment on the way to the hospital.
That helps explain why an EMS crew already at the scene might suddenly call for additional firefighters or another squad.
More hands really can matter.
Minutes Matter
Difficulty breathing is exactly the type of complaint where nobody wants dispatchers spending precious time searching for an available crew.
The 911 system worked in this case. Dispatchers kept calling agencies. Responders kept looking for help. Departments eventually answered.
But the radio traffic offers a look at how thin the system can become.
One squad doesn’t answer.
Another responds.
That crew needs help.
Another department is toned and doesn’t immediately answer.
Then another is called.
Then another ambulance is requested.
That isn’t a problem created by the dispatchers or the responders answering the calls.
They can only send the people who are available.
The Need Hasn’t Gone Away
Several years ago, SCDN wrote about the need for more local residents to consider becoming EMTs.
That need remains.
Becoming an EMT requires training and commitment, and it certainly isn’t a job for everyone. But local emergency services ultimately depend on having enough trained people willing to answer calls at 4 a.m., on weekends and during holidays.
There is also a broader question for local leaders about how Scioto County maintains reliable EMS coverage as the traditional volunteer model becomes increasingly difficult to sustain.
Because when someone calls 911 and says a loved one can’t breathe, nobody wants the next words over the radio to be a search for someone — anyone — who can respond.
On this call, one crew summed up the problem in five words:
“We need more hands.”