Re: “She called 911 for an ambulance. She got a nightmare instead” (March 8, A1) and “How Seattle’s 911 ambulance system and nurse line stack up” (March 9, A1):
I learn with horror about how, since 2022, Seattle officers have permitted Seattle’s Nurse Navigation program operated by the for-profit ambulance contractor American Medical Response zero contractual penalties for delays in ambulance service, and 0 want for the Hearth Division to doc how lengthy the rides find yourself taking. Tragically, it’s no shock that Pamela Hogan was discovered useless after her ambulance lastly arrived after 10 hours solely to go away as a result of no contact after Hogan known as 911 a number of occasions with rising urgency.
Earlier than 2022, the common high-urgency 911 name ambulance response time was 11 ½ minutes, with the common low-urgency response time nearly an hour. But now there’s “no commonplace” accessible for any classes of ambulance response occasions for Seattle?
What number of extra individuals have already quietly died and what number of extra will die sooner or later as a result of this tragic loophole? Our leaders should revisit this pressing lapse in oversight and return our metropolis to its prior excessive requirements. What occurred to Pamela Hogan reveals us it is a life-or-death matter.
Annette Peizer, Seattle
