'Drunk Tank' Helps Ease SF ER Crunch

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Mike Sugerman - CBS 5 TV News - December 02, 2003

Watch the full report Tuesday at 11pm on CBS 5.

What happens to a homeless alcoholic in San Francisco could
be a matter of life and death -- to you.

Until recently, the only place for people who were passed
out drunk on the street would be one of San Francisco's nine
emergency rooms -- the same place you would go with a bad
cut, a heart problem, or a stroke.

Until patients sobered up, they were likely to stay in one
of the 147 emergency department beds available in the city.
That's not many. Often hospitals are so full they tell
ambulances not to bring new patients in. But things may be
changing.

"Our waiting room is not as crowded," said Dr. Mickey
Rokeach of California Pacific. "Patients are getting in
faster. Our ability to get patients in and out has
improved."

California Pacific Medical Center's emergency room was often
was so full it had patients out in the halls. Now, there are
times when there are empty beds. What's responsible for the
difference?

This summer, a reborn McMillian Sobering Center went
on-line. It has been around for years, but was given funding
for medical personnel and social services. A city task force
thought a safe place to bring street alcoholics instead of
the ER could free up valuable beds.

Before 1997, drunks without medical problems were either
taken to jail or a hospital corridor to sober up. But a man
died in police custody that year, and things changed. From
then on, everyone had to be checked by medical personnel.
Since then, the number of times ambulances have been
diverted -- or turned away from hospitals -- has skyrocketed
1000%.

"I think we're seeing a significant decrease in the number
of individuals who would normally be brought to us, and let
go immediately," said Dr. Scott Campbell, director of the
Kaiser emergency room in San Francisco. "But what we're
finding is once they get to McMillian, they've been
integrated in case management there, so we're seeing less
and less of the repeat visitors."

Special vans that cruise the city looking for the
down-and-out in need of help bring drunks to McMillian. And
paramedics can too.

Twenty-five percent of all ambulance rides in the city of
San Francisco have to do with substance abuse on the street.
That's essentially a $1500 taxi ride every time.

But this is all anecdotal information. It's too early to
tell if results are real. And the anecdotes aren't as good
all over.

At San Francisco General, the city's public hospital, the ER
is still as crowded as ever. Paramedics say they are
frustrated by the strict rules they must follow to keep
street drunks away from the SF General ER.

But for the first time in a while, there is hope that the
crisis in the city's emergency rooms may lighten.

CBS 5 News source page: http://tinyurl.com/xhzz
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