Where I live, just outside city-limits of mediumish-sized Oklahoma town, its standard for nearby fire/medical volunteers to get called to respond. One guy, a retired paramedic, lives like two minutes away, fwiw. They generally have BLS stuff like O2/portable defibs on hand, IME. My family has had to get ambulance for elderly/frail mom-in-law a number of times, and EVERY time there were at least 2-4 volunteers (Og bless them all!) on scene 10-15 minutes before ambulance arrived.
There was one time when mom-in-law was having SEVERE trouble breathing that was becoming progressively worse, and after around twenty minutes of dispatch saying “ambulance en route, no known ETA” to volunteers (all former medical guys and quite knowledgable and two of them arriving in 5 minutes or less after 911 dialed), they started discussing with seriousness just taking her themselves to either hospital (maybe 10 minutes away), or to meet ambulance at closer-to-ER point.
I would have FULLY endorsed such action with 911-dispatch having no idea of ambulance arrival status. I told volunteers so specifically and clearly. Ambulance got there a few minutes after that, so volun’s did not have to make that judgement call. A minute or two later would’ve had us getting her into truck to get the heck to hospital - stat. But they sure as hell were ready to do what was felt necessary in their, and my, experienced medical judgement. They even went so far as to back up one of their personal SUV’s to front door to save time if they left with her.
I definitely want to have these well-trained/medically-knowledable volunteers responding that are ready and willing to make a judgement call if and when (rare/unique) situations call for such, and not the other way around. There should be no absolutes when it comes to a crisis which is compounded by lack of info from coordinating agency(s).
I am glad they were re-instated after the administrative suspension. Good job, IMHO.