Public safety officials: Don't hesitate to call 911 over covid-19 concern

Pittsburgh-area medical personnel and public safety officials don’t want residents hesitating to call 911 if they have an emergency, especially if that hesitation is out of fear of going to a hospital during the coronavirus pandemic.

“We don’t want anyone making their personal health situation worse by not calling 911 and possibly forgoing the appropriate care and treatment they may receive in the hospital or by EMS personnel in the field,” Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich said.

In Allegheny County, Pittsburgh Public Safety public information officer Cara Cruz said, while EMS call volume has remained steady, the nature of the calls has changed.

“Because people are staying home more, EMS is seeing fewer calls for things like vehicle collisions or other accidents,” Cruz said. “What medics have been seeing over the course of these six or seven weeks are increased calls for people experiencing coughs, fever and shortness of breath.”

In Westmoreland County, public safety agencies and officials hold a weekly conference call to discuss various aspects of the covid-19 pandemic. This week’s call included concern on the part of some first responders that residents may be hesitant to call 911 if it means going to a hospital where coronavirus patients are being treated.

County Public Safety Director Bud Mertz said those concerns are largely unfounded.

“The ambulances are cleaned regularly and sterilized, and so are the hospitals,” Mertz said. “They’re probably the two cleanest places in the world right now.”

At Murrysville Medic One, board member Matt Stromberg said medical crews clean and sterilize ambulances after every service call.

“Statistics for the months of March/April throughout the region have shown a significant increase in critical patients mainly due to people being afraid to call 911 and visit the emergency rooms,” Stromberg said. “Some areas have experienced five times as many cardiac arrests, double the DOAs (dead on arrival) and many more critical patients because they waited to call 911 until they became medically unstable.”

Cruz said new technology helps to connect patients in the field with doctors to determine if they need to go to a hospital.

“EMS is now utilizing a tele-medicine system to link patients up with UPMC physicians via video while they’re in the field,” Cruz said. “This allows both doctors and medics to determine who should stay out of the hospital and be treated at home, and who should definitely be transported for treatment.”

Hissrich said, when it comes to medical emergencies, residents can have confidence in frontline health care workers and the facilities they staff.

“If you would have called 911 during an emergency before the pandemic, that’s exactly what we want you do now,” he said.