The shortage of available medical crews in Scioto County continues with at least three families having a hard time getting help.
Right around 10 pm on Monday, a family on St. Rte 139 called for help when a patient had complications from a surgical wound.
Dispatch contacted Portsmouth Ambulance, which didn’t have a crew available. A Clay squad was headed to the call but ended up requesting that a Minford squad take the run instead.
Around that time, a family member contacted dispatch to report there’d been a squad in front of their house but it had left. Right 10:40 pm, dispatch advised the family that the Minford squad should arrive soon.
At 5:30 am the next morning, a worried wife requested help for her husband, who was showing signs of a burst appendix.
Dispatch contacted Portsmouth Ambulance, but the agency didn’t have a crew. They then called twice for a Valley Rescue squad.
At 5:47 am, the wife called back to say she was putting him in the car and driving to the hospital rather than waiting any longer. Dispatch told her to call back if she had any issues getting him into a car.
Later that afternoon, a Houston Hollow Long Run Road resident requested a squad due to server pain. Dispatch said they received no response after contacting Valley EMS and Portsmouth Ambulance had no crews available. They also tried to contact Clay EMS with no luck.
Dispatch contacted Minford EMS, which was at SOMC on a run, and asked them to cover. The patient called back just after 3 pm, upset that there was no ambulance on the scene.
The Minford Squad was able to respond to the patient just after 3 pm.