{"id":335592,"date":"2026-05-28T06:12:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T06:12:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/335592\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T06:12:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T06:12:19","slug":"sacramentos-new-ems-model-is-freeing-ambulances-for-critical-calls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/335592\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacramento’s new EMS model is freeing ambulances for critical calls"},"content":{"rendered":"

The station will serve as the home base for Sacramento Fire\u2019s Street Overdose Response Team, Mobile Crisis Unit and Mobile Integrated Health program.<\/p>\n

SACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014 The city of Sacramento\u00a0<\/a>is trying a new approach to emergency response as a new audit shows the system remains under pressure.<\/p>\n

A few years ago, ambulances lined up outside emergency rooms waiting for beds to open while crews sat \u201con the wall\u201d unable to return to service for new calls.<\/p>\n

Now, city leaders say hospital wait times are improving as Sacramento opens a new EMS-focused station aimed at keeping ambulances available for more serious emergencies.<\/p>\n


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Sacramento\u2019s reopened Fire Station 140 in South Natomas is now home to an EMS response hub focused on sending the right response to the right call.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is our first EMS station. Our first extension of the alternative response model out into the community,” said Ryan Tweltridge, assistant chief of community medical services for the Sacramento Fire Department.<\/p>\n

The station will serve as the home base for Sacramento Fire\u2019s Street Overdose Response Team, Mobile Crisis Unit and Mobile Integrated Health program, also known as MIH, which launched weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Vice Mayor Karina Talamantes said the new response model is intended to improve emergency response capacity while reducing unnecessary ambulance transports.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis new way of responding to these 911 calls will help them with their capacity, with their resources and making sure that the ambulances that are in the waiting room at a hospital have a patient that desperately needs care,\u201d Talamantes said.<\/p>\n

The shift comes as a new city audit<\/a> found Sacramento Fire responded to thousands of less serious medical calls, costing millions of dollars and contributing to long hospital wall times. The audit also found many EMS policies have not been updated in decades.<\/p>\n

Still, Sacramento Auditor Farishta Ahrary said changes are already being made.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have already begun working on and addressing many of the issues we have identified,” Ahrary said.<\/p>\n

Sacramento Fire Capt. Justin Sylvia said one early sign the city\u2019s new model is working is the Mobile Integrated Health program, which sends paramedics with nurse practitioners or physician assistants to treat some patients without transporting them to emergency rooms.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo far they have already had a 42% diversion rate from the emergency room. So that’s just great data that we are retrieving on its infancy stages to show how effective that unit can be,\u201d Sylvia said.<\/p>\n

The department is also continuing to use Medic Ambulance for less serious calls in an effort to keep advanced units available for major emergencies while expanding new response programs across Sacramento.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat will help us with response times to other calls for service where maybe it is more of an emergency,” Talamantes said.<\/p>\n

Sacramento Fire officials said expanding the programs further will depend on future funding and staffing.<\/p>\n

WATCH ALSO:\u00a0Roseville trucking partners at center of Pennsylvania homicide case<\/a><\/p>\n

ABC10: Watch, Download, Read<\/p>\n


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