By Bill Carey
EMS1
MULTNOMAH COUNTY, Ore. — Data shows that ambulances in Multnomah County were at ‘level zero’ for more than 6,300 calls between January 17 and June 8, highlighting a chronic high-call volume and low-staffing problem.
AMR has been arriving late to emergencies later and failing to meet county standards according to Bureau of Emergency Communications data, KGW8 reported.
When an ambulance is not available, dispatchers use a ‘level zero’ status until an ambulance is available.
“I think that this is a huge issue, I think everybody I know in government is concerned about how we can improve the system and what we can do,” Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said.
Multnomah County expects ambulances to arrive within eight minutes. AMR blames a shortage of paramedics and the county’s commitment to a two-paramedic system. The data showed that sometimes 15 or more 911 calls received ‘level zero’ status within an hour.
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The county received 50,025 emergency calls between Jan. 1 and May 31, 2023, an average of approximately 10,000 calls per month. When compared to the number of ‘level zero’ notifications, there were no ambulances available for approximately 10% of those calls.
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