The wait for an ambulance stretched to as long as an hour in some cases over the last week in more than a dozen cities across Tarrant County, following a cyber-attack on the computer network for MedStar Mobile Healthcare.
Dispatchers were using radios, maps, and pen and paper to keep track of where paramedics and ambulances were after computer systems were disconnected and isolated when the attack was discovered Oct. 20.
Call information from Fort Worth shared with CBS 11 showed that a half hour after someone was hit by a car Sunday on the north side of the city, firefighters were told an ambulance was still five to seven minutes away. "The system is designed that way as a safeguard so if one of the agencies is going to be delayed, there's low chance care is going to be delayed," said Matt Zavadsky with MedStar.
Burleson increased staffing in its own dispatch center to make sure it could stay in constant communication, and also offered to have staff help MedStar if needed. After several days of delays, the president of the Fort Worth Professional Firefighters Association sent a letter to the city mayor and two city council members, expressing concern the ambulance agency wasn't doing enough to minimize the impact to residents.