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Last year, of the nearly 62,000 medical emergencies in Queens requiring paramedics, help failed to arrive in less than 10 minutes 55 percent of the time.
By Michael V. Cusenza
For several years now, Queens has, by far, logged the longest Emergency Medical Service response times in the city, according to a disquieting report recently released by the Independent Budget Office.
In each of the years 2014 through 2018, The World’s Borough had a higher share of serious medical emergencies that took paramedics more than 10 minutes to respond to than any of the other boroughs. Last year, of the nearly 62,000 medical emergencies in Queens requiring paramedics, help failed to arrive in less than 10 minutes a jaw-dropping 55 percent of the time. And more than 20 minutes elapsed before paramedics arrived at more than 5,000 (8 percent) serious medical emergencies in Queens in 2018.
According to the IBO, citywide in 2018, paramedics responded within 10 minutes to 54 percent of roughly 314,000 serious medical emergencies. This is well below the 90 percent goal set in 1996 when the City Fire Department took over ambulance operations from the public hospital system in order to better coordinate ambulance and firefighter responses to medical emergencies as well as to reduce redundant staffing in the agencies.
According to the IBO, medical emergency calls received by the 911 system are categorized according to perceived seriousness, with a basic distinction being Advanced Life Support incidents versus generally less serious Basic Life Support incidents. ALS incidents include cardiac conditions, difficulty in breathing, unconsciousness, major burn cases, and other serious medical emergencies. BLS incidents include a wide range of conditions such as non-critical injuries, conditions involving emotionally disturbed patients, patients with abdominal pain or other sickness, and drug and alcohol abuse cases.
