A number of counties across the state are declaring states of emergency over COVID-19 surges and hospital staffing shortages. To avoid this measure, New York state has deployed a fleet of ambulances to Onondaga County to provide relief to its four local hospitals.
“This was presented to us as a possible tool to use and we're going to take that opportunity very proactively to provide that resources to the community,” said Daniel Wears, the county’s commissioner of emergency management.
Wears said that the ambulances will be there to provide assistance transporting patients to other hospitals but only if need be.
“What they're here to do is to help consult with New York State and with the hospitals,” he said. “And if it is appropriate for someone to get better medical care in another area or in another hospital, then they can be utilized to make sure that that patient has arrived to that other location.”
He said they won’t be added to the current fleet of ambulances across the county but will be reserved for very specific instances.
“So when someone picks up the phone and calls 911, you're not going to get some out-of-town ambulance who doesn't understand our area and go pick you up and bring you to our local hospital,” said Wears.
He said ideally this assistance won’t be used at all since its use would mean the local hospitals were overwhelmed with patients.
“Hopefully there's no utilization of it,” he said. “But this is something that we want to have available in the event that it is needed to help support the hospitals and balance the capacity amongst hospitals.”
The most recent state data says that roughly 94% of staffed acute care beds in Syracuse’s hospitals are full. However, County Executive Ryan McMahon has been adamant that local hospitals are fairing well despite staffing shortages.
“Not all hospitals agree with the metrics that are coming out by the state as a true reflection of their ability to do their job and treat their sick,” said McMahon in a recent community briefing.
These ambulances, which were provided by a contract between the state and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, will be operating out of the fairgrounds for 30 days starting soon with the possibility of an extension if need be.
Onondaga County has not declared a state of emergency, but many other counties have. Oswego County declared an emergency Tuesday after Oswego Hospital reached capacity. Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties also declared states of emergency this week.
