For Los Angeles area ambulance teams, COVID-19 calls never stop

SANTA FE SPRINGS, Calif. (Reuters) – For Southern California ambulance crews, the changes seem endless and calls to pick up COVID-19 patients seem endless.

“In 30 years, I have never seen a volume of calls like this,” said Eileen Cegarra, 56, ambulance dispatch center supervisor for Care Ambulance Service, one of the largest companies in the world. Los Angeles area ambulance, which has become the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States.

California hospitals have become so crowded with COVID-19 patients that state officials have ordered hospitals to delay non-life-threatening surgeries, saving space for severe cancer removal and necessary heart operations.

Outside of many hospitals in Southern California, ambulances loaded with COVID-19 patients wait for hours until space becomes available in the intensive care unit (ICU) or emergency room ( ER).

In addition to affecting patients, the backlog has wreaked havoc on ambulance teams responding to patient calls.

“The calls don’t stop just because crews are in the emergency room,” Cegarra said.

Jennifer Mueller, 30, works 24 hours a day as an Emergency Care medical technician, saying the pandemic has had a physical and emotional impact on people in her profession.

“Everyone is exhausted. Everyone is tired. We execute the calls; we want to help people. But there’s not much we can do, ”Mueller told Reuters during a free moment.

Patients are left sitting on hard gurneys in the cold. All Mueller said she could do was offer a blanket.

“They are suffering,” she said. “It’s just, it’s heartbreaking.”

California, the most populous state with nearly 40 million people, has been behind much of the U.S. push since November.

State officials reported 33,751 newly registered confirmed cases on Tuesday, bringing the total to 2.8 million since the pandemic began a year ago.

In Los Angeles County, with a population of around 10 million, COVID-19 kills someone every eight minutes, according to health officials.

Every minute, 10 people test positive in LA County, and more than 1% of those who test positive eventually die, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

Dispatcher Jaime Hopper, 29, witnessed the tragedy.

“The other day I had, I think at one point, nine seated calls. So that’s nine people who are in distress, ”Hopper said. “So it’s a little, it’s annoying, but you just gotta do what you can.”