If you need an ambulance in Soap Lake, you could end up waiting a bit.
Especially if the county’s transport company, American Medical Response Inc. (AMR), is having a busy day.
“AMR happens to be in Moses Lake, and it’s 25 minutes to get here,” said Grant County Fire District 7 Chief Kirk Sheppard. “If I have a patient here in Soap Lake, and I have a hospital seven minutes away (in Ephrata), we have to wait for that ambulance to come and pick them up.”
Because state law limits transportation of patients by ambulance to licensed transport agencies in non-emergency situations, Sheppard said GCFD 7 is looking at becoming certified as a transport agency to make life a little easier for Soap Lake-area residents.
The restriction does not apply in life-threatening situations, Sheppard said, and GCFD 7 has two ambulances — one it is planning to retire soon — just in case.
“It’s about patient care. If there is undue harm by the delay, we can, by law, pick up and put someone in our ambulance without asking permission,” he said.