B. Emergency Services

There are two ambulance services in Imperial County which provide services to local residents. Gold Cross Ambulance Services is a private business licensed to provide emergency and non-emergency ground transports. The Bombay Beach Rescue Service, also privately operated, is licensed to provide non-emergency ground transports. The number of emergency and non-emergency transports in Imperial County in 1995 is reported in Table 6.3.

When medically necessary, transports to larger tertiary care facilities can be arranged. El Centro Regional Medical Center estimated that during 1997 they had 360 air and ground transports from their emergency room with another 100 or so from the various services at the hospital. For roughly the last six months of 1997, Pioneers Memorial Hospital reported 173 air and ground transports to other facilities. Of this number, 55% were transferred to a higher level of care, 21% because acute care was no longer required, and 16% were transferred for rehabilitation reasons. The top destinations of all these transports are Children’s Hospital, Scripps Hospital, UC San Diego Medical Center, and Sharp Hospital.

Air transports are much less common than ground transports, in good part due to the high cost. It is estimated that a helicopter air transport for the approximately 90 nautical miles between Imperial County hospitals and San Diego costs approximately $8,000 - $12,000. In the second half of 1997, Pioneers Hospital reported approximately 30 air transports. El Centro Regional Medical Center had information on December 1997 only and reported 33 air transports. Both hospitals have busy emergency rooms. For the year 1996-1997, Pioneer’s Hospital reported 14,110 visits to the emergency room and El Centro Regional Medical Center reported 24,392 visits.

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