Fire Chief Mark Lee reported on changes in hospital transports at the Monday, Dec. 6, City Council work session. Concerns had been expressed about the method used to decide the best hospital for patients being transported.
Lee explained that when Baylor-Garland was closing, there were concerns about the impact it would have on the community. Additionally, GFD worried that hospital off-loading times, transport times and overall response times would increase.
GFD decided that it would be best to get ambulances back to their districts as soon as possible. Lee said that was best accomplished by transporting patients to the closest appropriate facility. However, the department recently learned about patients who were unhappy about where they were transported. As a result, a change has been made. Now, when medically appropriate, patients will be taken to the hospital of their choice.
A list was compiled of each facility and its capabilities.
The choices for those with cardiac events are listed below. A patient experiencing a heart event will be taken to a heart hospital. When there are several choices, EMTs will ask which hospital the patient prefers.
- BS&W Heart Hospital in Plano
- BS&W Lake Pointe
- BS&W Sunnyvale
- City Hospital
- Dallas Regional on Galloway
- Medical City Heart & Spine
- Medical City Plano
- Methodist Richardson
- Texas Health Resources Dallas
Choices for those with the possibility of stroke:
- BS&W Plano
- Medical City Dallas
- Medical City Plano
- Methodist Richardson
- Texas Health Resources Dallas
Those listed above are primary stroke centers. According to Lee, in a typical situation, patients will be transported to one of those. However, if symptoms have been going on for a while, it is not as critical to get the patient transported to a comprehensive center. In those cases, they can also be taken to BS&W Lake Pointe, BS&W Sunnyvale, City Hospital or Dallas Regional on Galloway.
In trauma cases, patients are transported to:
- Baylor Dallas
- BS&W Lake Pointe
- Children’s Dallas
- Dallas Regional Galloway
- Medical City Children’s
- Medical City Dallas
- Medical City Plano
- Methodist Richardson
- Parkland
- Texas Health Resources Dallas
Adult medical facilities for other conditions:
- BS&W Lake Pointe
- BS&W Plano
- BS&W Sunnyvale
- City Hospital
- Dallas Regional on Galloway
- Medical City Dallas
- Medical City Plano
- Methodist Richardson
- Texas Health Resources Dallas
- Texas Health Resources Rockwall
Lee explained that if there is only one logical choice because of the urgency of the situation, the patient doesn’t get to choose.
“We will do the best we can to accommodate them. But there will be times that we are still going to take them to where we think they need to be,” Lee said.