00:00Chuck, what are you doing now?
00:01I've been meaning to start a letter campaign to bring back Pumpkin Spice 5-Hour Energy.
00:07Save your ink! It's already back!
00:10You're welcome.
00:11But you didn't do anything!
00:13Didn't I?
00:24Alright, you would imagine if you called 911 and asked for an ambulance, they'd send you an ambulance.
00:28Right.
00:29Or something like that.
00:30In this case, they sent him a lift.
00:33Okay.
00:33You know what? We're just going to send you a ride chair.
00:35I might be faster sometimes.
00:37What happened?
00:38We're off to North Carolina for this story now from CBS 17.
00:42It just got worse and worse.
00:43Brett Rothstein can be seen here on his door cam doubled over in the fetal position around 2 o'clock
00:49Sunday morning.
00:50My pain was 10 out of 10.
00:51He says his pain and suffering only got worse when he and his wife called 911 only to find a
00:58ride share headed his way instead of an ambulance.
01:01They told me there were no ambulances available and sent me a Lyft driver named Carlos.
01:07I was absolutely shocked.
01:10I was appalled.
01:11I pay taxes in this county.
01:13Oh yeah, there you go.
01:14I pay for the subscription service for an ambulance and for them not to send me an ambulance when I'm
01:18double down in pain on my front steps of my house is pretty crazy.
01:21That's when he learned Wake County EMS and Lyft to the rescue are partners in a four year old program
01:26called 911 Nurse Navigation.
01:29Oh no.
01:30911 is a joke.
01:31Are you kidding?
01:32That's insane.
01:33Carlos?
01:34I'm like writhing in pain?
01:36Can you give me some paramedics that know what they're doing?
01:38What's Carlos going to do for me?
01:39How are you doing?
01:41Carlos!
01:41Oh god Carlos it hurts!
01:43Listen you are in the car of Carlos!
01:47Carlos!
01:47And I tell you Carlos loves to party, we gonna put on a little bit of music for you, you
01:53like a disco ball?
01:58Carlos, I need something!
01:59Carlos!
02:00Carlos, I need something for the pain!
02:05You got something for the pain?
02:08Carlos!
02:09Stop!
02:10Hey listen.
02:10I hope you enjoy the ride.
02:12Would you like a glass of water?
02:13No, I need something for the pain.
02:15I'm in so much pain.
02:17The pain.
02:18Oh, damn.
02:19I hate this.
02:21Oh, man, you'd hate to have one of those party rides.
02:25Come on.
02:26And it would.
02:27Well, stuff going on.
02:29As under the system, when you call 911,
02:31train telecommunicators follow an established emergency medical dispatch
02:35call-taking process.
02:37Callers answer a series of questions that allows the nurse navigator,
02:40who's a registered nurse, to assess and suggest health care options
02:44based on the nature of the patient's condition,
02:46from life-threatening to non-life-threatening,
02:49then dispatch either an ambulance or, free of charge, lift.
02:53We're here to make sure occurs is that those patients that have a dire illness
02:57receive a rapid ambulance response and that all of our patients have reliable care.
03:04The nurse navigation program was revamped this past February
03:07when the EMS director told CBS 17 that 911 was getting about 400 calls a day,
03:13with life-threatening emergencies making up only 10 percent.
03:16The dispatcher asked if I was awake and alert, which I was.
03:19She asked what was going on, and my wife told her that I was double down in pain on the
03:23floor,
03:23and I couldn't really ambulate or walk around.
03:25Nurse navigator, who's in Dallas, Texas, and he told me he was going to get me a lift.
03:30And then I got a notification on my phone that they sent somebody,
03:33and he was 15 minutes away.
03:34And you canceled it?
03:35And I canceled it.
03:36Wow. Why'd you cancel it?
03:37I wanted to get to the hospital faster than 15 minutes.
03:40You just go here and have your wife drive you.
03:42Yeah, exactly.
03:43And ultimately, Rothstein, who's a retired New York City EMT himself,
03:47says when it comes to an emergency every second counts,
03:49he drove himself to Wake Med Wendell,
03:52where he was examined and diagnosed with appendicitis,
03:55then transported for treatment here to Wake Med Raleigh by ambulance.
03:59We're still digging deeper for more answers into the Wake County nurse navigation program.
04:04We've asked, do lift drivers receive any nurse navigation program training
04:07who's liable if the patient's condition, God forbid,
04:10suddenly takes a turn for the worse while in the lift?
04:13Yeah, I'm in Carlos' car, and I, like, start spitting up blood or something,
04:18or things go wrong.
04:20There's going to be a charge for that, I've got to tell you.
04:22Oh, I've got to pay a cleaning fee?
04:24You're going to be in charge for that, Senior Dave.
04:26Oh, I pooped myself.
04:27Oh, Senior Dave, it stinks.
04:29Oh, no.
04:30We're trying to have a good time in here, Senior Dave.
04:33Get off it, the pain, the pain.
04:35Carlos, no, stop.
04:37Carlos, enough.
04:39I hate this.
04:41Windows down, everybody.
04:42Senior Dave just crap his pants.
04:47Carlos' care car sucks.
04:49Like, the hospital's calling me, and like,
04:53oh, this guy's in a terrible shape.
04:57Carlos, tell them I'm in pain.
04:59He says he's in a lot of pain.
05:01He's pooping blood.
05:04It's bad, man.
05:05It's bad, Carlos.
05:06We're trying.
05:07He's dying.
05:08Carlos.
05:08I think he's dying.
05:09I don't know how to help him, though.
05:10Faster.
05:11I got a bottle of water.
05:13I got a bit of chocolate bar.
05:15Are we stopping to get someone else?
05:17And what?
05:17Is this a share ride?
05:19Yeah, sorry, Senior Dave, but make room, Senior Dave.
05:23Straight to the hospital.
05:24Slide over a beat.
05:25No, I can't.
05:26Oh, it's a big lady, Senior Dave.
05:28Big old lady sitting on Senior Dave.
05:32Oh, man, that's not the injury.
05:36Do you guys want the disco ball on or off?
05:38Off, off, off.
05:40On, I hear it on.
05:41Off, off, no.
05:46It's a party in a Carlos' van.
05:50That's a nightmare.
05:51That's a nightmare.
05:51Yeah, exactly.
05:52I mean, and it'd be the person to pick up the sick people.
05:54That's crazy, too.
05:56Exactly.
05:56Because, you know.
05:57They die in your car?
05:58They asked, oh, do the people get any training?
06:00How can you train every single Lyft person around?
06:04No, they're not trained.
06:05They just are showing up on a scene.
06:09Listen, I was stupid, too.
06:10When I had my gallbladder thing, I drove myself to the hospital.
06:13I never should have done it.
06:15Well.
06:15But I can't imagine being in a rideshare, either.
06:18No.
06:19I mean, my God.
06:21Well, especially, like, you knew you had gallbladder stuff, right, at the time?
06:26Yeah.
06:26So, like, that makes some sense.
06:27You know what's going on.
06:28This guy didn't know what was wrong with him.
06:30He was just a lot of pain.
06:31He was just like, something is happening on the inside of me.
06:36He had a really good wife, though.
06:39That was very nice.
06:40That was the only thing I liked about the whole story.
06:41I was like, man, you know, you pay for that.
06:44Yeah.
06:45He's taking care of you.
06:45Mm-hmm.
06:46Mm-hmm.
06:47Mm-hmm.
06:48Mm-hmm.
06:48Mm-hmm.
06:49Mm-hmm.
