WOW I was going to start this same blog myself!   Mayben's number is 823-0164, Caudle's number is 822-2200. Tell them to stop handing out awards to Mr. Hall and demand him to provide the proper amount of EMS coverage. Just a few nights ago an unconscious lady age 65 laid on her floor waiting 30 minutes for an ambulance from Mojave. The Tehachapi ambulance was at CCI. This is a time sensitive issue, call today! We need and deserve two ambulances up here. The City of Tehachapi is waisting time an energy working on starting an unneeded fire department when they let this happen. Do they have your best interest in mind? Call today your life or your love ones life may depend on it!  Kern County has 4 fire stations in the Tehachapi area. Hall ambulance has just one full time ambulance for the same area. That's down right criminal. When you have Mayben on the phone ask him when the fire station in Stallion Springs will be open full time.

I will call. We all need to call. If you dont call and something happens you will not be able to complain later. Just imagine your child or your grand child hurt or sick and you have to wait 30 minutes because your ambulance is helping some child molester at the prison. Ask Mayben and Caudle what they are going to do to solve this issue and ask for a time line for when they will solve this. Ask them if they knew we only had one ambulance in the Tehachapi area. If they did know tell them they should be ashamed! Mr. Grimes just gave Hall Ambulance an award for great service for Tehachapi. WHY?

This has been an issue for a long time.  As I have posted before, Tehachapi is getting the short end of the public safety stick.  I'm gonna leave the fire and law enforcement protection issues aside for a moment here, and just focusing on paramedic coverage...

Per the Halls Ambulance website at http://hallamb.com/Pages/mi... Harvey Hall first started providing service to the area in October 1979.  Maybe some long-time residents can tell me what the population of the Tehachapi response area was at that time, but I'm guessing it was probably 1/3 of what it is now.  Fast forward to now, and we still have one full time ambulance.  FOR ALMOST 30 YEARS THIS TOWN HAS GROWN STEADILY -- WHY DOESN'T HALLS AMBULANCE KEEP PACE?!?

Short answer -- more money in Halls pocket.  From a business standpoint, why would he put 2 or 3 ambulances up here when most of the time he can get by with just 1?  That would be okay if he ran an ice cream truck company -- unfortunately, lives are truly at stake here.  I'm sure I'm not the only one that hears sirens constantly (got to move away from Hwy 202, but that's another story...); just talking to our responders on occasion I know how busy they are. 

Quick note here... my sources seem to be pretty reliable, but I may have bad information.  If I can get any official word from the company, I'll be sure to correct any inacurate information Ive posted.

Apparently the company added an 8 hour ambulance during the day to at least give us a little more coverage, but the truth of the matter is that national paramedic to population ratios typically run anywhere from 1:10,000 to 5:10,000.  Sadly, in our area, that ration is more like 1:35,000 (or 2:35,000, when we are lucky enough to have the short hour ambulance)

Consider the fact the Halls has two full time, 24/7/365 ambulances each in the following areas:  Shafter, Taft, California City and Mojave.  NONE of those areas have the population that Tehachapi has.  Also, the Tehachapi coverage area is HUGE, covering:  Bear Valley, Stallion Springs, Tehachapi, Golden Hills, Sand Canyon, Alpine Forest, Old West Ranch, Cummings Valley, the Prison (a LOT of people right there...), Oak Knolls, the Windfarms, Keene, Hart Flat, etc etc.   I was shocked when I learned this, and I hope you are too.  

The Tehachapi crew has PRIMARY 911 response obligations pretty much from the Arvin cutoff at state highway 223 all the way east to the Cameron Road off-ramp between Tehachapi and Mojave.  That has to be at least 20 miles worth of freeway alone.  They have PRIMARY 911 response obligations to the area served by five different engine companies (Keene St. 11, Tehachapi St. 12, BVS St. 16, SS St. 18 and CCI St. 916), as well as small areas of four more engine companies (Arvin St. 54, Walker Basin St. 87, Mojave St.14 and Rosamond St. 15).  Now consider the fact that Tehachapi Hospital has to transfer many of the more critical patients down to Bakersfield or Lancaster (or LA, or Fresno, or...?) and thats even more of a workload on the ambulance personnel.

THE MADNESS CONTINUES!

Does anyone else see a HUGE problem here?  When my aunt & uncle first moved to the area in the late 80's, there were apparently two paramedics on the primary ambulance, and two EMTs on an on-call ambulance that was reportedly staffed most of the time.  Now we have one primary ambulance and a secondary ambulance that is staffed on occasion.  So our coverage has decreased as our population has greatly increased!

How often do you think that more than one incident at a time happens in the huge primary coverage area?  Apparently it happens ALL THE TIME!  A minor wreck with 3 patients can tie up two ambulances for more than an hour (and that assumes that the wreck happens when the second ambulance is stafffed)... what happens if you need 911 during that time?  I guess you are up the creek, as they say.  If you live up on Deertrail or Skyline or way out in Hart Flat, it could take 45 minutes for an ambulance to get to you on a clear summer day when the ambulance crew is available in town.  Now what if you have to wait for an ambulance to come from Mojave, Arvin or Calif. City?  I guess you could die, but what does that matter as long as Hall is able to continue living large in whatever ritzy part of Kern County he chooses to call home?  That's more important than you or me, right?  Right?

WRONG!!!

If you don't believe (or can't believe) any of this, call up Halls and ask.  If you see him out and about around town, try to talk to Shane 'The Pain' Reed -- he was amedic for Halls years ago, and I know he'll tell it like it is.

I know this was long, but this is an important issue.  I think I just may have to start my own blog on the issue.

The bottom line is this:

We need to speak up, generate some less than favorable publicity, and get this to change.  Your life just may count on it.

Halls Ambulance contact numbers:
Administration:       661-322=8741
Public Relations:   661-716-4219

Please don't hit me up at work. If you see me around town I can and will "tell you like it is." At work I have to be nice and forward all your questions to someone higher up. Sorry.

 Most of what 'Bill93561' said is true. Tehachapi needs a 2nd full time ambulance, but calling Mr. Hall will not help. You need to call your government leaders and get them to do something about this issue. I also agree with 'anonymous' the City needs to be working on more important emergency service issues like this. This is a hot issue right now. Lots of stories and editorials have been written in the Bakersfield Californian this last week. Call City Hall and call the County BOS aka Mayben. Call Mr. Hall if you like but hey why should he change?

 

Hey this could make a nice news story. One that will not upset anyone local. One that may push Hall to do the right thing.

Ok so Kern County Fire has 4 Fire Stations in Tehachapi, the State has 1, and the City of Tehachapi has 1/2 of a station right? Most of the calls fire departments run these days are medical and car crashes right?  With all this fire protection Hall Ambulance only has one fulltime ambulance. How does one ambulance cover 5 and1/2 fire stations? How does the City of Tehachapi and the County of Kern allow this? Why don't the City of Tehachapi start an ambulance service instead of  duplicating fire service? Why don't the city council pass a resolution to make the County, make Hall provide the right amount ambulance coverage? Why don't the County Fire Department have Paramedics? Can the Newspaper find out how many times a week or day there is an ambulance call in the Tehachapi area and the prison. Can it find out how many times hurt and sick people have to wait for an ambulance from Mojave or Arvin? Maybe one of the firemen blogging on here can tell us anonymously.

Tehachapi bloggers dont care.  They dont care about this. They make post about 'going out of town' and 'needing a place to stay'. They will never take the time to make a post on an important subject like this. They will call about a wall near a backward facing building, but they will never take the time and call someone about this. Why should they, nothing bad will ever happen to them. Thats why Tehachapi City and Hall Ambulance does what it wants. No one cares if it dont effect them right now.

Tehachapi News will not do a story on this, its to hot for them. No one will know and no one cares. One day they will call 911 and they will be told to "Keep choking the ambulance will be at your house in 35 minutes".

One solution for this problem would be for Kern County Fire to have a firefighter paramedic program.  Unfortunately every time KCFD has attempted to have one Mayor Hall has fought it tooth and nail.  This shows the obvious conflict of interest (corruption) within the Kern and Bakersfield city governments.  All we are asking is for Tehachapi is to have sensible coverage, waiting for an ambulance to come from mojave, arvin, or cal city, when your having a heart attack is not sensible.  The Board of Supervisors (Mayben) has wanted to increase protection by adding a tax to your property taxes.  This is the wrong solution no other area has a special tax for its protection any amount is too much.  We need to make sure the Kern County Board Supervisors are making Fire and EMS coverage a priority and not squandering our tax money and then taking more from our pockets to insure our protection.   This lack of public safety awareness is apparent  with the use of Prisoner fire engines.  No other city or county in the State uses prisoner staffed fire engines like Kern County does.   This allows the Kern Board of Supervisors to gamble your 911 need with prisoners rather than spending money on another fire station to cover that area and its a shame.  We all can spread the word call Mayben or recall his election.  We need a change its getting obvious that were not mayberry up here anymore.   

 Hall Ambulance runs in Tehachapi on average 6 to 10 medical calls a day. Most calls take 1 hour to complete. Calls out to the prison require the ambulance to transport to Bakersfield. That takes over 3 hours to complete. So the Tehachapi ambulance crew is working a call 6 to 12 hours a day. Some days less, some days more. So even if you get the ambulance 1st  the crew is going to be tired and over worked. On average one person every two days is in need of an ambulance but has to wait for one from out of town. Paramedic's that live in Tehachapi are transferring to places like Boron because they are over worked and can't do that amount of calls day after day.  Thank God we have the Fire Department up here to take up the slack. HALL is out to make a buck, not to help people. That's sad. Why is a private company in charge of emergency care? We need to be like real counties and cities and have the fire department take care of emergencies. L.A.city and L.A. county fire departments run all emergencies, from car fires to chest pain calls. They are there because they want to help people NOT to make a buck off them. Tehachapi needs 3 ambulances two in town and one out near the prison. An ambulance transport from a home in Golden Hills to Tehachapi Hospital will cost you $2,500 to $6,000.  So an average of 8 calls a day at $4,500 a call is $36,000 a day for Mr. Hall. Oh but wait the prison pays like $8,000 per transport to Bakersfield and the ambulance goes out to CCI like 1 to 2 times a day. If you don't believe me you can go to the Kern County EMS web site to see the amounts Mr. Hall gets paid per call.

Oh I forgot to tell you Kern County EMS that regulates Hall Ambulance is made up of all ex-Hall Ambulance employees. >>Mr. Mayben HELLO<<

 

Halls Ambulance contact numbers:
Administration:       661-322-8741
Public Relations:   661-716-4219

Mayben's number is 823-0164, Caudle's number is 822-2200.

Kern County EMS : 868-5200

  I want to make sure that the Great people working up here on the ambulance are not the targets of frustration.  They work very hard and always do a good job they are however overtaxed.   This blog is not slamming you its your boss were having the problem with and his refusal to help you.  The ambulance crew being overworked and public are who suffers by not adding an ambulance or two up here.  Come on Harvey you'll still drive a Mercedes and eat steak help us out. 

All of us that have and work for "The Hall" know what you guys are saying. Don't worry about us we feel the same. The Hall drives a Lincoin Town Car not a Mercedes. His radio call sign is  even "Lincoin One"

while people are taking the time to write, email or call the supervisors about the need for more medical services, we should hit them up about a full time fire station in Stallion Springs and Golden Hills. 

Oh My!! Well lets see here. Mayor Hall drives a Crown Victoria & not a Mercedes or Lincoln. Hall Ambulance has 1-24hr Unit and 1-12 hr unit in Tehachapi. Yes I admit the area needs at the least 2-24 hr units in the Tehachapi area. Medicone-please dont use "WE" when speaking about other Hall employees views. I know quite a few Hall employees that really love there job and how Hall operates. You are not even a Hall employee any longer yet use a picture from there???? Back to subject, sorry. Yes I see Hall going  to the prison. Yes that sometimes leaves Tehachapi unprotected if the other unit is doing a transfer from Tehachapi Transfer Hospital. Maybe if the Ambulance was not transporting stubbed toes from the prison they could be here in town. As to KCFD having Firefighter/Paramedics- No Comment!. As to Tehachapi having there own ambulance. Cal City had there own years ago and now they use Hall. Yes, I know California City has their own Paramedics, but Hall does patient care and transport. KCFD has there own but utilize them to conduct EMT training only. I see one thing here. We can compare this with the Tehachapi City FD vs. KCFD debacle and Hall Ambulance vs. Tehachapi FD issue. KCFD has many resources from which to utilize. Hall Ambulance has resources from which to pull from. As you see from Hall website. They serve 87% of Kern County, and have done so for I believe 35 years!!!  I think the owner Mr. Hall deserves a little credit for running a business like that for that long. I think he may just know what he is doing. Maybe we should concentrate our efforts on making sure the hospital gets built and hopefully not transfer as many patients out and hoopefully utilize those new directors this towns citizenry elected, and have them admit patients instead handing care to some other doc down below and just sit back and collect a paycheck. I love this town and I love the EMS, Fire & Law Enforcement we have here. They do an outstanding job!!! Hope this helps someone.

Even "tehachapidad' thinks we need more then 1 and 1/2 ambulances and he talks like a Hall employee. Mr. Hall has what he does because he does not have the citizens  best interests at mind. He wants to be rich and powerful thats it. 'tehachapidad' makes his "no commit'"commit about county fire having paramedics like it would be a bad thing. What they cant be good paramedics because they work for a fire department? Give me a brake all the good paramedics quit Halls and go to work as firemen or other things. What about LA and every other department that has them are they all bad?

 

The point here is Hall Ambulance is not doing what it should. Not in Tehachapi, Bear Valley, Pine MT Club or anywhere else for that matter. Dieing people dont need to wait for an ambulance from Mojave or Arvin.

Anonymous, I am sorry that you believe I dont like fire medics. I like firefighters. Some of my best friends are firefighters. My dad was a firefighter!!! I simply stated that we cannot compare LA County to Kern County Medics due to there levels of care available to the public. Kern has more agressive protocols. I have said for years to my friends that Hall needs another unit inTehachapi. Several of these friends are long term Hall employees who agree with me and the public in general.I welcome anyone that wants to to call Hall Ambulance and give them your opinion. I cant answer for them and what they have planned. If the citizens of this town want another ambulance than tell Hall!! And "Anonymous you sound as well that you are or have been a Hall employee yourself!!