If you call 911 in the District, chances are you may not always get an ambulance.
“In the past, we would always have to transport no matter what,” said Captain Richard Hall with Engine 2, in Chinatown. “It wasn’t even a question of what the emergency was."
The fire department is one of many stations within the city that is working with the Right Care, Right Now nurse triage diversion program, meant to reduce calls that first responders don’t always deem life-threatening.
“We are overtaxed and the emergency departments in the city are also overtaxed,” said Dr. Robert Holman, medical director for D.C. Fire and EMS.
He said that instead, patients are being diverted to clinics and rideshares as part of the diversion program that launched a little more than a year ago.
Holman said the city realizes that many people of the older generation may have some hesitations against the program but the hope is that the program will continue to change that habit and expose patients to the nurse line.