The surge in COVID-19 cases has led to an ambulance crisis for an Alabama city, leading to firefighters using apparatus to transport patients.
Because Mobile hospitals are at capacity, some patients are having to stay hours in an ambulance while they wait for an available bed, WPMI-TV reports. That's kept units tied up and has led to a shortage of both ambulances and paramedics.
In some cases, ambulances and paramedics have had to wait as long as 12 hours before a patient can get into the hospital. The Mobile Fire Department has had to improvise on calls, using rescue vehicles to take patients to the hospital.
“If you have a heart attack you may not be able to get an ambulance to get to the hospital, and if you get to the hospital in your own car, they may not be able to take you in to the hospital," Dr. Bernard Eichold of the Mobile County Health Department told WPMI.
With their capacity issues, Mobile hospitals have tried to send patients to facilities in Florida and Mississippi. But with the surge in COVID-19 cases across the South, that's not becoming viable.
“We are going to end up having loss of life in Mobile because of the impact COVID has on our hospital capacity," Eichold said.
