Recently, I called 911. Why did an ambulance from a private company
show up?
Lexington County EMS has a mutual aid agreement
with some of the private services. During busy times when EMS units are not available, private
services may assist EMS as needed. During these times, the private services fall under the
control of Lexington County EMS and have to follow all of their standards, including charging
the same fees.
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My mother must use an ambulance to get to her
appointment at the hospital, but it's not an emergency. What should I do?
Lexington County EMS only handles
emergency transports. Non-emergency transports are handled by private
convalescent services. These services provide EMT's or Parmedics as necessary
for all routine, non-emergency transports. Some also have special wheelchair
services for those people that may need those services. You can find these in
the yellow pages of your local phone book.
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Why does a Fire Truck come to
my house when I call for an Ambulance?
EMS Units are stationed throughout Lexington County.
Whenever a unit responds to a 911 call, it cannot respond to other calls within
that area. The Emergency Medical Dispatcher will respond the next closest
available unit. Since this unit may be many miles farther away from your
location, a fire department vehicle will sometimes be dispatched as a "First
Responder". These Fire Department personnel are trained to handle the emergency
until the EMS unit arrives. This reduces the time before emergency help may
arrive.
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What am
I supposed to do when an ambulance approaches with its lights on. I pulled into
the median, but they went into on-coming traffic anyway.
SC Code of Laws Section 56-5-2360(a) of the 1976 Code is
amended to read:
Upon the immediate approach of an authorized emergency
vehicle making use of an audible signal meeting the requirements of Section
56-5-4970 and visual signals meeting the requirements of Section 56-5-4700, or
of a police vehicle properly and lawfully making use of an audible signal or
visual signal only, the driver of every other
vehicle traveling along a two-lane roadway shall yield the right-of-way and
shall immediately drive to a position parallel to, and as close as possible, to
the right hand edge or curb of the roadway clear of any intersection and shall
stop and remain in such that position until the authorized emergency vehicle has
passed, except when otherwise directed by a police officer. A
driver of a vehicle traveling along a multilane roadway shall yield the
right-of-way and shall remain in, or move to a location that allows the
emergency vehicle or police vehicle to pass safely, except as otherwise directed
by a police officer."
As you can see, the law requires that you pull to the
right. Since you should be pulling to the right, it is much safer for the
ambulance to pass you on the left.
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Why does it cost so much just
to ride up to the hospital?
Lexington County Council has established ambulance fees to
offset some of the costs to users of the system.
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Who do
I need to contact to get an ambulance to stand by at our function?
Lexington County EMS does not
routinely provide dedicated coverage to events within the county. If your
function requires ambulance coverage continuously, you may contact one of the
local private convalescent services.
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Who do
I need to contact to get someone to talk to our group?
