RIVER FALLS, Wis. 鈥� An ambulance breakdown in River Falls during an emergency call has renewed concerns about the reliability of the area鈥檚 ambulance fleet.
Two of the five Allina Health Emergency Medical Services rigs failed within 24 hours, officials said. One would not start after a hospital transport, and another broke down for unknown reasons, stranding a crew and a patient, reported.
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Paramedics say similar incidents have occurred in the past. Allina Paramedic Judy Seeberger criticized the aging fleet, calling a 17-year-old truck 鈥渘ot a reliable鈥� unit.
鈥淭he other half of my brain is going through all the different workarounds that I have to ensure that the equipment that should work, if it doesn鈥檛 work, what do I do?鈥� Seeberger said. 鈥淚 like my job, I want to stay working there. But I think it鈥檚 important enough when patient safety is concerned and leadership doesn鈥檛 seem to be doing a darn thing to address these concerns, what other options do we have?鈥�
Paramedics say these problems aren鈥檛 new. During a July response to a boat explosion, they encountered similar equipment issues. Earlier this month, one ambulance had steering troubles and a faulty radio, failures that may violate Wisconsin law.
Allina took over River Falls ambulance service five years ago and has replaced rigs in other cities. The company says units are serviced every 8,000 miles with onboard diagnostics, but it did not address River Falls鈥� ongoing fleet issues.
