ASHEVILLE – McDowell County ambulances will begin transporting noncritical patients to Mission Hospital again after a two-and-a-half-month stoppage. Ambulances resumed transporting patients from Marion-based McDowell Hospital to Mission Jan. 18.
McDowell County Emergency Services Director Will Kehler initiated the pause in November, citing long wait times for ambulance patients arriving at Mission, which backed up the county’s emergency response system.
McDowell County announced it resumed patient transfers in a Jan. 18 news release, noting that wait and turnaround times have decreased since over the past few months.
Buncombe County implemented a handoff policy in December that allowed paramedics to leave stable patients in hospital staff’s care shortly after arriving in an ambulance. Spokesperson Kassi Day told the Citizen Times in a Jan. 23 statement that Buncombe has not used the policy in 2024. The county will keep the policy as an option, she said.
A Citizen Times investigation in July highlighted the far-reaching impacts of these extended wait times, which led to delays in treatment and backups for local emergency response. Hospital workers and emergency service leaders blamed an overtaxed and understaffed emergency department on the delays, saying that Mission did not have enough staff to quickly treat, admit and discharge patients. North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein cited this concern in a lawsuit filed against HCA and Mission in December.