To ensure continued timely response to true medical emergencies, Contra Costa Health (CCH) encourages residents to call 911 only if the need for care is truly an emergency.
Contra Costa County’s emergency medical system traditionally serves higher-than-usual numbers of patients this time of year, and this month healthcare providers and the agencies providing emergency ambulance service are especially impacted because of COVID, flu and other respiratory viruses.
Several hospitals in the community are reporting critically high level of patients occupying beds, with more than 1,200 inpatients reported throughout the county as of Friday. Hospital emergency departments are similarly impacted.
Calling 911 for your health emergency is recommended if it involves:
• Chest pain, difficulty breathing or a fast (120+ beats per minute) resting heartbeat
• Numbness or weakness in any part of the body, seizures, or difficulty speaking
• Fainting, unconsciousness, dizziness, sudden severe pain or headache, or confusion
• Sudden blindness or vision changes
• Heavy bleeding that will not stop with pressure, or broken bones
• Choking, drowning or near drowning
• Severe burns
• Poisoning or drug overdose
• Allergic reactions, especially if there is difficulty breathing
• Someone making a credible threat to harm themselves or someone else
There are other good reasons to call 911 as well. But to reduce strain on the county’s healthcare system, CCH asks anyone considering whether to seek emergency care if a 911 call is the best way to get the services they need, or if contacting an advice nurse or urgent care might be more appropriate.
When many people seek care through 911 at the same time, it reduces the number of emergency ambulances in circulation, ready to respond when someone in the county needs lifesaving care.
So…. if there’s no cheese on my Jumbo Jack I’ll have to resolve the issue all on my own?
Well considering the jumbo Jack doesn’t come w cheese that means you had to ask for it, which means you probably were asked if you want it. To have all that happen and no cheese? It’s probably racism.
What???
You can get Cheese on a Jumbo Jack????
🙂
What do they call it in France?
I know what you did there….
What time were all clocks set to? Or so they say….
Advice nurse, . . .
“please continue to hold for the next available . . . . . ”
.
1144
People really are STUPID nowadays, duh
How many of the 12,000 inpatients do not belong in this country? Gavin Newsom gave free health care to all illegals in the state. Now we are seeing more people in the waiting room, and longer lines at the pharmacy.
Thanks, Gavin.
And when you give people free healthcare, they NEVER wait. They ALWAYS go straight to the ER for every little thing. They overuse and abuse services because, hey! They don’t have to pay a single cent!
You mean I can’t call 911 if they’re out of chicken nuggets? That is an emergency.
Can we get hospitals to stop calling for 911 paramedic units when CCT units are not available ?
One way long term care facilities save money is to not have doctors or nurses on duty and instead to call 911. The patient gets billed directly by AMR or whoever responds to the 911 call. AMR people are not doctors and nurses either meaning their only option is to transport the person to an emergency room which also bills the patient directly.