VIDEO: For residents in rural parts of Missouri, ambulance services can take some time to arrive.
Mercy is working to change that.
“It’s been an ongoing issue,” said Victoria Saldana.
She says she’s worried about her elderly father getting emergency services in Seligman.
“Every single time they’ve called, they have never shown up before 30 minutes,” she explained.
Saldana says more should be done to get medical attention in rural Barry County.
She said, “I understand that it’s a small area. It’s not like a big city, but at the same time, those people’s lives matter too.”
Bob Patterson, director of ambulance services for Mercy, said, “It’s not like in a metropolitan area where you might have a five to six to seven minutes or less than eight minutes, 59 seconds, whatever your gold standard is. But in a rural environment, that can be more challenging.”