SAN DIEGO — Despite promises of improvements, complaints about long response times are piling up for San Diego's ambulance provider Falck.
The City of San Diego Public Safety Committee met Wednesday and discussed the options on the table.
"The ones calling 911 right now, 'hearing 911 what's your emergency?' They're needing an ambulance and wondering if they're getting one," said Councilmember Jennifer Campbell, Chair of the Public Safety Committee.
The city wants to make changes to Falck's contract to ensure ambulances make it to San Diegans in a timely manner. The contract amendment will require Falck to subcontract with a second ambulance provider. The fire chief wants an agreement to be made next month.
"At that time we will either have a final agreement with the amendment or try to find out what legal steps can be taken with the contract," said San Diego Fire Chief Colin Stowell.
The fire department said there were many times last month that all Falck ambulances were busy, and none were available if additional 911 calls requested help.
"I think it's important that San Diegans and visitors know they're safe," said Jeff Behm, the managing director of Falck San Diego.
He says they've made progress in hiring more paramedics and have brought on 38 since announcing a $50,000 signing bonus in November. Meanwhile he said they lose four to six paramedics a month. They're working to boost recruitment and retention.
"We're really proud of our workforce they're working so hard. We have a situation where call volume is higher than planned, we are short staffed as we know and we're being held waiting for a bed at the hospitals," he said.
The fire chief is asking for a special meeting with the Public Safety Committee in April to agree upon the amendment to Falck's contract.
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