At last night’s meeting, the City Council directed the fire department to place a reserve ambulance into service to handle COVID-19 backlogs. Typically, the Cathedral City Fire Department, which operates the ambulance service in Cathedral City, runs two ambulances to handle the city’s medical transports to local hospitals. This method works in normal conditions in an efficient manner. However, the recent surge in the number of COVID-19 patients at area hospitals has created a backlog at the emergency rooms. Ambulance crews must wait for the patient to be admitted by the hospital before they can leave to go back into medical response service. The backlog at the emergency rooms is creating longer than normal admittance time and keeping ambulances out of service longer than normal.
In an effort to keep a high level of care and adequate response times for medical calls, the City Council directed staff to move forward with a plan to place a third reserve ambulance into service. This additional ambulance will backup the current ambulances and step in when either one of them are out of service due to admitting a patient in the emergency room. The added service will create additional costs to the city, mainly in overtime hours. However, the City expects to be mostly reimbursed by funds created for COVID-19 pandemic relief.
To help our local public safety personnel, the City reminds everyone to do their part to prevent acquiring the COVID-19 virus by following these tips:
- Wear a face mask or covering when in public and intermixing with those outside of your immediate household
- Social distance at least 6 feet from those outside of your immediate household
- Wash your hands often throughout the day especially before eating and drinking
- Avoid touching your face unless you clean or sanitize your hands first
- Disinfect items touched often like surfaces and smartphones
- Stay home unless going out for essential functions
