To Imperial County Board of Supervisors:

The population of the Imperial Valley and El Centro has grown significantly in recent years, but its medical resources have not kept pace with the changing times. The need for an additional resource to help manage the flow of patients in and out of facilities are seen throughout Imperial Valley. The difficulty in transporting patients to and from the hospital is felt in all departments at El Centro Regional Medical Center (ECRMC), Pioneers Medical Healthcare District (PMHD), skilled nursing facilities, doctor's offices, urgent cares, and dialysis centers. We have significant overcrowding that could be reduced if we could have timely transport of patients that are too impaired to travel by wheel chair van. If the county had a non-emergency ambulance service it would help alleviate long waits for EMS transport to and from the hospital and would greatly benefit our community. A Basic Life Support (BLS) ambulance and two (2) emergency medical technicians (EMT) would be able to meet the needs of many patients that wheelchair transportation cannot. For example, every day renal patients miss their hemodialysis appointments because they do not have transport to the dialysis center and are taken to the hospital for a lengthy stay in the emergency department for their treatment. Additional staff is being called in to run the dialysis in the ED. If these bed ridden patients could be transported directly to and from the dialysis center it could provide significant savings in time and money. There are also many nursing home patients who are unable to sit up but who need evaluations treatment for their hypertensive urgencies, hypo/hyperglycemia, bowel obstructions and constipation, minor falls, lacerations and many other minor medical issues. Every day many patients who are unable to walk and confined to bed need transport home from the hospital or to and from their medical appointments. A non- emergent ambulance service would be able to meet this need. In summary, the addition of a non-emergency ambulance service to the Imperial Valley will provide a much needed service to this community. Not only will this service be a resource to our hospitals, but for dialysis centers, nursing homes, doctor clinics, and above all the families of this community.

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