One frustrated Detroit EMS employee calls it a "third-world nightmare."
EMS responds to an average of 350 calls every day. Tony Briscoe of the News reports delivering emergency services has become increasingly difficult over the years because of diminished staff, dwindling resources and an out-of-date bureaucracy.
Just as Detroit police and firefighters are struggling to absorb budget cuts, EMS, too, has been hit hard.
Among the problems: staffers leaving for better-paying, less-stressful private sector jobs; aging, broken-down ambulances with no money to fix them; and an increasing number of poor, underinsured residents who call 911 in non-emergency situations.
EMS received 46 new ambulances in 2008, but only 16 were on the road on a recent day.
By comparison, according to the News, Cleveland has 15 operational EMS units running daily along with a work force of 250 to serve a city with a population about 44 percent smaller than Detroit's.
In Memphis, Tenn., which is closer in population to Detroit, the city fire department has a fleet of 36 ambulances and 56 fire engines manned by 505 medics and 1,187 emergency medical technicians, who respond to EMS calls.
