Accessing an ambulance at USD

Public Safety clarifies how to call an ambulance in a medical emergency on campus

Lilyana Espinoza | News Editor | The USD Vista

Junior Jeff Keeler had never experienced pain like this before. Keeler had just completed a workout with his NROTC unit, and even in his time as a high school athlete, no pain could compare to the sharp pain coming from his chest. He realized that he needed help, and to make matters more frightening, Keeler was alone.

“I had returned to Camino, but it was roughly 6:45 a.m. so no one was awake, nor did I want to wake anyone to help me, since I figured if I didn’t know what it was then it might as well be me to call emergency services (rather) than another uninformed freshman,” Keeler said.

In that moment, Keeler remembered that calling Public Safety (PSafe) would be the most efficient way to receive help.

“I don’t remember when or where I was told this, but I recalled being told to always call PSafe first because they could get to me faster and would know where to go to get to me, i.e. would know what Camino Hall is specifically,” Keeler said.

Keeler recalled that it took PSafe about 10 minutes to locate him and concluded that he needed an ambulance. It took the ambulance another 10 minutes to get to campus. Keeler said he was lucky he was able to wait, but someone experiencing a more urgent medical emergency could not wait that long.

“That timeframe (that it took an ambulance to get to me) is much too long for someone in distress — I just happened to be able to wait for it,” Keeler said. “For someone, say, having a heart attack, the ambulance would not have gotten there in time if that person called PSafe first.”

It was determined at the hospital that Keeler suffered a partially collapsed lung. Looking back two years later, Keeler realized just how frightening his situation was.

“Thinking back on it, it’s actually kind of scary how long it took the ambulance to get to me,” Keeler said. “As I said before, if there had been a bigger medical emergency, it may not have been able to save the person who needed help. Also keep in mind that the 20-minute timeframe was in spite of the fact that I called the emergency (2222) number. If someone in the future only has PSafe’s (7777) number then it would probably take longer.”

Chief James Miyashiro explained how in life-threatening situations PSafe will take action instead of waiting for an ambulance to arrive.

“We carry in our patrol vehicles not only first aid kits but we also have defibrillators,” Miyashiro said. “We usually will show up on scene first and a lot of times we don’t want to move people, we don’t want to do anything that is beyond our realm. But we will be there and let people know help is on its way and again if it is a life threatening situation we will do first aid.”

According to official PSafe records, the number of medical calls for various reasons has in fact declined from 176 calls in 2016 to 126 calls in 2017.

A recent news report from San Diego NBC 7 stated that EMTs and medics in the San Diego area have noticed lower staffing. According to these sources, this is causing slower response times in the San Diego area.

Chief Miyashiro elaborated on the response time of ambulances arriving at USD.

“I haven’t noticed (the EMT shortages) as an issue because it depends on the types of calls that we get,” Miyashiro said. “If we call for non-life threatening things such as an evaluation of someone who is intoxicated, those will take longer than 20 minutes. For life saving situations and medical aids they are here pretty quick.”

A Residential Assistant (RA) on campus is trained to call PSafe first if any of their residents appear to be in need of medical assistance.

Junior Dale Allen, an RA in the University Terrace Apartments (UTAs) on campus, explained the procedures students should follow if they need medical assistance.

“The resident will call (their RA) first, and then the procedure would then be to get there, assess the situation, see if everyone is safe and if not then we would call PSafe,” Allen said. “PSafe would come and, based on the situation, the RA could say on the phone that the resident needs an ambulance because the resident is not well, or we call PSafe to come and assess the situation.”

Allen explained why the best option is to call PSafe first.

“The main difference between calling PSafe and 911 is (that) 911 would be like, ‘Where are the UTAs?’” Allen said. “They would have no idea.”

Before Allen was an RA he experienced a situation that made him have to decide whom to call for help first.

“My friend drank too much and I was called,” Allen said. “I told them, ‘Guys this is not safe. Let’s call PSafe.’ I went straight to calling PSafe and then PSafe brought in Res Life and PSafe carted him out. I kind of was (aware to call PSafe first), but honestly I didn’t know about the straight procedure of it until I became an RA.”

Although calling PSafe’s emergency (2222) number on campus is the best number to call in an emergency, Chief Miyashiro explained why calling 911 would not prolong an ambulance to getting to campus.

“If (a student) is on campus they should call (2222),” Miyashiro said. “That is our emergency line that goes directly to our dispatch and that way we can get them the services for whatever they want. We can connect directly to fire, ambulance services, San Diego Police Department, any of those things. The other option if they don’t dial 2222, because that is not something that they may remember, they can always dial 911. We are able to listen in to 911 calls that generate from our location. If somebody picks up the phone and calls 911 right now it is going to be routed to what a Public Safety channel that connects the dispatch to law enforcement, fire, whatever services they need. We then pick it up as well and it is recorded.”

If a student is trying to remember who to call for emergency medical assistance, the MySDMobile app, under Safety Check, has listed PSafe’s emergency and non-emergency contact information that makes calling for help quick and easy.