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Photo from the Yankton Convention and Visitor's Bureau website

INTER-FACILITY TRANSFER GUIDELINES

Here are the general guidelines for requesting a transfer:
  1. YCEMS will transfer patients from health care facilities located only in Yankton to larger facilities in Sioux Falls, Sioux City or Norfolk on a case-by-case basis. Any transfer request may be declined or postponed according to staff availability, current call volume, fatigue guidelines, or other factors.
  2. ​YCEMS does not transfer any patient farther than a 100 mile radius from Yankton. This eliminates transfers to cities such as Omaha NE, Lincoln NE, Rochester MN or Minneapolis MN. There are local ambulance transfer services that will accommodate long distance transfers.
  3. YCEMS does not send out more than one transfer crew at a time. If we have an ambulance on a transfer and your facility requests another transfer, your facility will have to contact another ambulance service or wait until our crew returns to service.​

Here are the instructions for setting up an ambulance transfer, once your facility has determined that a transfer is necessary:
  1. Call the YCEMS office at (605) 668-9033, option #5, after you have made arrangements for the patient to be accepted at another facility. There is no need to call early for a "heads up". We will transfer the patient when we have a crew available but 911 calls will always take priority. If there is no answer at our office, your call will automatically be forwarded to the Yankton Police Department 24-hour dispatch center. You can advise them that you need to contact the ambulance for a transfer. Dispatch will relay the message and you will receive a call back when the crew is available.​
  2. Once the crew arrives at your facility, they will need a signature for the electronic Provider's Certification Statement (PCS), as well as a patient face sheet, medication list and medical history all printed for our records.
Note: YCEMS does not own or carry IV infusion pumps. If your patient is on an IV infusion of any medication, your facility's infusion pump will have to be sent with the patient on the transfer.