"He also said they they average one call to the prison a day."

So, does that mean the prisoners get better treatment than we do? Hmmm. Maybe we should all try to become prisoners?

Jim Richards 

I think it's time for the firefighters to become paramedics to improve patient care.  Patients get quick care from fire paramedics, hand off to Hall paramedics for continuing treatment and transport.  Everyone wins and Harvey still makes a buck and gets to be a hero.  Besides, who would want to be the one calling when by Hall's own admission, the ambulance does not make the time standard 5.9% (or 75 times) like last year.

Okay, I had to respond after reading Jim's blog.  Aren't you quite the hypocrite to be condemning the ambulance company for not immediately providing additional service to the community.  Perhaps if our hospital provided the appropriate medical services for a community this size, the ambulance would not have to take people "50 miles away" to the nearest hospital.  You even stated in your blog that it would take another year...or two to build a hospital.  It takes time and money to improve services. 

I have used Halls ambulance for my aging father on more than one occaision.  The ambulance drivers were nice and professional.  We should be happy that they are here at all.  Prior to moving to Keene, I lived in Montana where the ambulance service was all volunteer and they got there when they could.  I am starting to believe that Tehachapi is growing to big for its britches and the mountain charm that brought me here is losing out to big city transplants who think they are entitled to big city service.

Tehbadapple- Here we go again. PLEASE TAKE NOTE.  No one here is complaining about Hall's employee's.  They do a wonderful job and they are great paramedics. They have no control over what is going on.  No blame can be or is being put on them!!!

I am starting to believe that Tehachapi is growing to big for its britches and the mountain charm that brought me here is losing out to big city transplants who think they are entitled to big city service.

This made me laugh. Thanks! I have lived here for almost 20 yrs.  Am I a transplant?  Actually I think most everyone commenting on here has lived here for at least 10+ years. If Hall's already has one full time ambulance and one "12 hour" ambulance, Do you REALLY think it is asking to much to make that 12 hour ambulance a full time ambulance?  Wanting two ambulances for 35,000 people in a 25 mile radius has nothing to do with entitlement.

Mark( Hall's PR guy) even admitted that the medics up here were being run HARD. When I brought this up again later in the conversation he realized what he had actually said and said, "Well since the second ambulance has been placed out there it's( medic's workload) actually not as bad."

This isn't Montana and we aren't talking about a volunteer ambulance service.

All it takes is one serious car accident on the freeway (with the Montana driving style I see, Trucks, cars at 80 plus) to swamp the ambulance and the local pre-hospital care system.   It won't matter if thier is a new hospital or not, if there are no paramedics to treat you and no ambulance to transport you to the emergency room.  Speaking of time and money, thanks for voting down the 1/2 cent tax to improve our obsolete roads, reminds me of Montana.

By the way Badapple, I believe they like to be called EMT's and Paramedics, not ambulance drivers :)

Tehbadapple - have you slipped a little in the logic area?  You want Tehachapi's ambulance service to be as bad as the one you moved away from?  Good service is only for the big city folks?  You were kidding, right?  Country charm has nothing, absolutely nothing, with dying because you couldn't get to the hospital timely because the one available ambulance available at midnight - when you happened to chock on a pretzel - was busy at the prison.  Country charm has always included service and a nice smile with that service.  Who's the transplant?  I've lived here for over 12 years.  When did you arrive from Montana? 

And  - your view on our hospital situation - keep up with the news.  The administrators, both at the hospital and the city, the residents, the county and even the state of California have been working on the new hospital for years.  I think the last update included the plans being submitted, again, and feelings ran high thinking an approval was close.  But - our local doctors need to step up the the plate and be available (on call) and they have consistently been AWOL on this subject.  Doctors on call don't receive much compensation, if any, so they don't want that job.  And they really don't want that job when it involves being on site at midnight.  And these same doctors refuse any competition in Tehachapi from the large HMOs who would staff the hospital.  They really just don't care enough.  So I'm not completely convinced our new hospital will be properly staffed and the emergency situation will remain.  So - in summary - we need good ambulance service. 

And we need that service 24/7.  And until we have it, no one should feel exempt from the possibility of falling victim to the 6% of calls that cannot be answered within the considered appropriate time frames.  If Hall's statistics are correct, they received 1,300 calls a week.  That means 78 calls were not answered timely with the possible result of death.  It is a miracle more people have not succumbed under those "statistics." 

Hey, Anonynmous. I agree. Hall,  the Mayor of Bakersfield, and also the Owner of Hall Ambulance? At the same time? If that's not a "mutha" Conflict Of Interest, I don't know what the hell IS? Why don't you file a formal complaint with somebody? The Kern County Board of Supervisors? The Governor's Office? SOMEBODY ought to look into this? What say you, everyone?

Jim Richards