San Francisco hiring on-call medics to cover shifts

Slow response times due to shortage of qualified medics and aging ambulance fleet

By Chris Roberts
The Examiner

San Francisco, Calif. — To help fix problems with ambulance response times, The City will hire on-call paramedics to staff the vehicles while waiting for new Fire Department ambulances to be purchased and more SFFD paramedics to be trained.

Plummeting response times -- including one infamous two-hour wait for an ambulance over Labor Day weekend -- has led to criticism for Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White from both City Hall elected officials and rank-and-file firefighters.

And response times for Code 3 calls, the most serious emergencies, are still slower than desired, according to a December memo from the Mayor's Office.

Read Full Story: SF to hire temporary paramedics to cover ambulance shifts