New Orleans EMS is failing to respond quickly to emergencies as chronic understaffing driven by low pay forces the city to lean heavily on private ambulance companies, the Office of the Inspector General said in a new report.
In 71% of cases, the agency missed national benchmarks as average response times climbed to 17 minutes and 45 seconds — nearly double the recommended nine minutes, according to the report released Thursday.
Even in the most critical calls, classified as “cardiac arrest/imminent death,” the average response time was 10 minutes and 40 seconds…