911 is for Emergencies?

Channel 2 Video

Greensboro, NC -- When we think about the reasons for dialing 911 for an ambulance, most of us would bet it's a life-or death situation.

But only 5% of all of the calls for EMS are life-threatening emergencies according to national training guidelines.

Which means 95-percent of the calls are non-emergency tying up limited numbers of ambulances as we've reported in Davidson and Rockingham counties.

It means in Guilford County last year, out of the 60,868 calls to 911 with EMS response only 3,043 fell into the category of life threatening.

Guilford County EMS Operations Manager, Billy Livingston said the problem for EMS is all calls have to be treated like they could be life threatening in that moment.

"We're county tax supported. We're here for the citizens. We're here to be their emergency medical service provider. We're their medical conscience prior to receiving medical care at a hospital," explained Livingston.

But in order to make sure that an ambulance reaches the 5% that are truly life-threatening emergencies, Livingston explained 911 communicators go to work sending help but categorize the call based on what the victim tells them.

"We have five levels of response that come into the 911 Center. A non-emergency that requires nobody to go lights and sirens and does not get first responders, all the way up to what we determine echo response which is ineffective breathing which we would consider a life threat until proven otherwise," stated Livingston.