[pugio]

I can speak to this. I recently joined a community first responder association (I've always wanted to know what to do in case of a medical emergency) and was shocked to hear the members' horror stories of how long it can take an ambulance to arrive. Like the author, I grew up with the narrative "in trouble, call the ambulance, they'll scream through the streets to get to you in moments".

That might still be true where I grew up, in the US, but that's certainly not a guarantee in Melbourne, where I now live. On joining the local volunteer organization, I went from thinking "oh this will be a useful bonus for the community" to "wow, we can literally be essential". Since our org is composed of people living within the community, average response time to ANY call is <5 minutes (lower for cardiac arrest, when people really move). Sometimes one of us is right next door.

We can't do everything an ambulance paramedic can, but we can give aspirin, GTN, oxygen, CPR, and defibrillation. We can also usually navigate/bypass the usual triage system to get the ambulance priority upgraded to Code 1 (highest priority, lights + sirens, etc.) If for some reason the ambulance is far away (it backs up all the time), we can go in the patient's car with them to the hospital, with our gear, in case of further issues in transit.

I tell everyone now to always call us first (since our dispatcher will also call the ambulance) but while I feel more confident in how I'd handle an emergency, I feel less safe overall, with the system's faults and failings more exposed, and the illusion of security stripped away.

My condolences to the author.

In terms of updating - consider whether The System is really working. If not, what can you do yourself (or within your larger network) to better prepare...

[rich_sasha]

My cousin's 3yo daughter stopped breathing one night, woke up struggling for breath, turning blue. They called the ambulance. Dispatcher said, 3 hr wait, and pretty please get off the phone, as there's a queue of callers.

She started breathing again after a few minutes and seems fine, but they left the UK not long after that.

[verelo]

That’s wild. I fell off my garage roof almost 2 weeks back. My wife called the ambulance, they arrived within 20 minutes. We are in rural Ontario, 30 minutes from the nearest hospital, on a dirt road that is privately owned and maintained. I expected over an hour.

I plan to make a trip in to the ambulance hall and fire hall this week and say thanks. I am ok, fractured vertebrae, but honestly i just am so grateful for the public service they provide.

[pfannkuchen]

The dispatcher must not have understood right? This is like evil levels of incompetence otherwise, because the system can’t possibly be designed to do that right? So the dispatcher must have been in the wrong, but to make the dispatcher not completely evil we have to make her merely stupid and/or careless. That’s terrifying. Where did they go to if you don’t mind me asking?

[tetris11]

London, last year - 90 minute wait for an ambulance to the hospital 10 minutes away.

We called an Uber

[gpt5]

Melbourne has an excellent ambulance response time (defined from the moment 000 call is received to when the first ambulance resource arrives on scene):

* Average Code 1 response time: 12 minutes 47 seconds

* Code 1 responses within 15 minutes: 77.2%

* Number of Code 1 first responses: 12,375

This places Melbourne among the faster councils in the state, and well ahead of the statewide average response time.

Source: The Victorian Parliamentary Budget Office’s 2025 report: https://static.pbo.vic.gov.au/files/PBO_Ambulance-funding-an...

[kelnos]

Perhaps my understanding here is lacking, but that doesn't sound good at all. Feels like if someone has some sort of cardiac event, or, worse, isn't breathing, by the time the ambulance gets there, they'll be dead, with too much brain death for any resuscitation effort to be worth it.

[apimade]

I live in Merri-bek. 50%. 3km north of Melbourne CBD.

I can drive to an ED within 3-5 minutes.

This report doesn’t make me feel good.

[stickfigure]

That response time is better than where I live, in the country about an hour north of Oakland. Paramedics are about 30m away. We're a volunteer district and I'm a volunteer, but when I get paged it takes a few minutes for me to get dressed, 5m to get to the station, a few minutes to get the engine started, and ? mins to get to the incident. Realistically, the minimum response time is 15m.

Sounds like you keep medbags at home and respond directly to the incident in personally owned vehicles? That's a neat idea. Does everyone have a medbag?

[pugio]

Yes that's right. We have a pretty extensive kit we keep in our car at all times. There's also a mobile app for alerts, navigation, and writing down vital signs and patient care records, and a radio for direct contact to dispatch and other responders.

[moomoo11]

First of all, my condolences to the author.

I resonate with your thoughts about USA response times. We lived in a middle class suburb with mostly immigrants. When I was 10 my mom slipped in the bathtub and was knocked out. I dialed 911 crying and within 2 minutes a cop had arrived and only a few minutes later the fire truck first response had arrived. They helped my mom out and she was fine afterwards.

It was so crazy for 10 yo me. I thought my mom was gone.

I am so sorry for what the author and his family had to endure.

[evanelias]

Even in the US, response times can really vary. As an extreme example, in Jersey City (population ~300k) there were a bunch of incidents a couple years ago where residents called 911 in an emergency and no one answered.

[burnt-resistor]

E911 (location information sharing) also doesn't work consistently.

The advantages of coming in an ambulance are traffic priority, priority attention in the ER, and medical triaging and coordination. The disadvantages in the US can be extremely expensive to some people if they don't have the correct insurance and inconsistent timeliness.

The advantage of coming in a private vehicle are speed (usually), but at the disadvantage of having to get past ER gatekeepers and lack of information and preparedness. It is probably wise if possible to have a third person in the vehicle call the ER at the destination hospital to let them know what generally should be expected.

Another issue is that it's inherently risky to live more than 30 minutes driving distance from a major city hospital. To do so basically necessitates a life flight which is extremely expensive and not necessarily quick either.

The for-profit, gotcha capitalism monopolization of hospitals and medical services by private equity also results in worse, deadlier patient outcomes, hospital closures, and more expenses. Medicare for all (m4a) isn't a fix because of the Medicare Advantage scam, the medigap scam, the part D scam, and the lack of long-term care, skilled nursing, dental, vision/glasses, mental healthcare, and hearing aid coverage that doesn't provide true comprehensive single-payer healthcare at a sane cost per patient and with better outcomes.

[pfannkuchen]

On the ambulance delay time. Have people perchance started calling ambulances for less and less serious matters over time? Thus increasing the calls per capita. I could kind of see that given what I’ve heard about 911, but then again maybe not. Also I feel like 50 years ago people would have been more worried about having some enforcement action taken against them for wasting the 911 line’s time on something inappropriate? Not sure if that enforcement ever actually happened, though.

[Spooky23]

Yes, but cities design for that. Urban paid departments have a 7 minute response time or less.

My mom lived in the country, and the sheriff there started a paramedic service and trained deputies as EMTs. It made a huge difference as the paramedics arrive first in most cases.

[pabs3]

The emergency service number should be calling the closest first responders, not the other way around...

[anotherevan]

Would that first responder association be Good Sam?

https://www.goodsamapp.org/oz

I've been thinking of joining that.

[johnisgood]

> how long it can take an ambulance to arrive

When everything is far apart, or you live away from a city, that is definitely true. This is one of the cons of living outside the city. There are many perks, but this one is a con for me for sure. Especially because I have MS and I do not drive nor have a car.

[gobins]

Wow melbourne is getting that bad! Does your org have a name?

[scorpioxy]

Oh yes. Quite bad and I don't know if things are getting slightly better than "bad" or the media is tired of reporting about it.

Up until a year or so ago, an appointment at a GP would take weeks of waiting. Specialist appointments were 1+ years waiting time. This is somewhat better now with the establishment of critical-care clinics operating after hours. This is from personal experience.

The emergency rooms often had waiting time of 12+ hours(or more). I know someone who has been waiting on a procedure at the public hospital for 6+ years. Another has a child waiting for an appointment with an estimated wait time of 3+ years. All non-urgent but a wait list in the years is no longer a wait list to me, it's a system that is not fit for purpose.

Initially all of this was attributed to the pandemic and the harsh lockdowns in Victoria. But a few years out, it seems difficult to still do that. When asked, our government just re-states that they've invested in this and that and then deflect. Recently, due to the horrible state finances, the healthcare system was being downsized with services cut and the bloodshed continues. This is without talking about the systemic issues and incompetence I've seen.

The funny thing is that outsiders think that public health care means free. It's really not. We pay for it on top of our income tax(1-2% on top, more if you're above a certain threshold) and it is not cheap. It wouldn't be so bad if it was working like you'd expect but paying for a non-functional system is....I don't know what to say.

[softgrow]

Sounds like Hatzolah Melbourne, https://hatzolah.org.au since 1994

Since 1998, in Melbourne for anything that might need a defibrillator a fire engine is sent at the same time as the ambulance (EMR Emergency Medical Response Program). https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2002/177/6/cardiac-arrests-tr... Medical Journal of Australia article. There is also GoodSAM https://www.ambulance.vic.gov.au/goodsam/ for individual helpers

[mathgeek]

Although we're a world away from each other, thank you for what you do. I greatly appreciate it.