Hesperia Star
SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, Calif. — On any given day in the High Desert, a line of at least five ambulances can be seen waiting to check in patients at local hospitals. Sometimes, the line is even worse.
At St. Joseph Health, St. Mary Medical Center on a recent evening, 11 ambulances were lined up outside of the emergency room waiting to unload patients. Hospital officials said the double-digit number is not ideal but acknowledged that it’s not unheard of these days.
Patients are stuck waiting for a bed — usually in a holding room — while ambulance personnel are unable to respond to new emergencies because they’re stuck waiting for those patients to be admitted to the hospital.
Read full story: Officials call long ambulance unloading times ‘serious issue’