{"id":81490,"date":"2026-01-08T17:27:38","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T17:27:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/81490\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T17:27:38","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T17:27:38","slug":"erie-county-urges-residents-to-limit-ambulance-er-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/81490\/","title":{"rendered":"Erie County urges residents to limit ambulance, ER use"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Erie\u00a0County health officials are urging residents to reserve emergency room visits and ambulance use for &#8220;true medical emergencies&#8221; due to the strain and delays they create for patients with severe respiratory symptoms\u00a0and patient transfers.<\/p>\n<p>Emergency medical service\u00a0agencies and hospital system\u00a0representatives have reported challenges in\u00a0emergency rooms and ambulance crews are facing delays transfering patients to hospital care.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Most people\u00a0with\u00a0influenza, a stomach bug (norovirus) or the common cold\u00a0have self-limiting symptoms, which means\u00a0that after\u00a0a\u00a0few days or a week of feeling miserable,\u00a0and plenty of rest and fluids,\u00a0symptoms\u00a0end,&#8221; said Commissioner of Health Dr. Gale Burstein. &#8220;There is a fine balance here: we do not want\u00a0people to second guess calling 911 or going to the hospital.\u00a0However, going to the [ER] with a\u00a0minor cough or runny nose\u00a0is\u00a0a slower,\u00a0less\u00a0efficient\u00a0and more expensive\u00a0way to manage those symptoms.\u00a0For non-urgent health concerns, [ER] waiting times\u00a0are\u00a0very\u00a0long\u00a0right now\u00a0and you might catch another illness in the waiting room.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>These recommendations come as <a href=\"https:\/\/spectrumlocalnews.com\/nys\/buffalo\/news\/2026\/01\/06\/cases-of-flu-numbers-continue-to-spike-across-new-york-state\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">flu numbers are reportedly on the rise<\/a> across New York, according to the latest report from the New York State Department of Health.<\/p>\n<p>Health officials are encouraging alternatives for non-urgent medical needs, such as urgent\u00a0care\u00a0centers, primary\u00a0care and telehealth\u00a0services.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When ambulances\u00a0respond\u00a0to a non-emergent call, they are not available when an emergency happens,&#8221;\u00a0said\u00a0ECDOH\u00a0Deputy Commissioner for Emergency Medical Services Gregory Gill. &#8220;Once at the hospital, ambulances\u00a0line\u00a0up\u00a0with all the patients arriving at the hospital. Patients are treated in hospital by severity of illness, not how they arrived, so going in by ambulance will not push you to the\u00a0start of the line. And during that wait, that\u00a0ambulance\u00a0is out of service and not\u00a0available\u00a0to respond to\u00a0emergencies.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Erie\u00a0County health officials are urging residents to reserve emergency room visits and ambulance use for &#8220;true medical emergencies&#8221;&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[36285,290,21392,1611,136,138,137,1057,139,294],"class_list":{"0":"post-81490","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-erie","8":"tag-app-health","9":"tag-app-public-safety","10":"tag-brian-campbell","11":"tag-buffalo","12":"tag-erie","13":"tag-erie-headlines","14":"tag-erie-news","15":"tag-health","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-public-safety"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}