McDowell County EMS has ended its temporary pause on non-emergency transfers to Mission Hospital in Asheville as of January 18th. The pause was put into effect on November 6th of 2023 due to long wait times in the emergency department at Mission.
In a news release on January 18th, McDowell County Emergency Services Director Will Kehler said a continuous monitoring of EMS wait and turnaround times happening at Mission during the process of paramedics transferring patient care to nursing staff showed that McDowell County EMS paramedics did not experience delays when transferring patient care during the month of December nor have any delays happened in so far January. Kehler said, “There have been significant improvements…we appreciate the process improvements and the additional resources HCA has dedicated to the emergency room to ensure ambulance off load times are not excessive.”
Off load times from emergency services had become an issue for county emergency services because emergency vehicles are not available to respond to individual counties while they are waiting to release patients into the care of Mission staff.
