A busier-than-expected week for the stopgap ambulance company stationed outside the shuttered Carney Hospital Emergency Department since last Saturday has prompted state officials to extend the ambulance’s contract for another week.

On Sept. 5, The Department of Public Health (DPH) reached a new agreement with Beauport Ambulance Service to extend the presence of ambulatory services outside of Carney Hospital until next Saturday, Sept. 14 at 7 a.m., according to Beauport. Originally the medically equipped vehicles were scheduled to spend just one week there, but due to high demand will be staying for at least one more.

“What prompted DPH to extend us another week was the foot traffic we have had,” said Kevin Rosado, director of operations and communication at Beauport Ambulance Service. “I believe there have been somewhere between 17 and 20 calls so far that we’ve actually transported and probably another maybe 50 to 60 patient interactions that didn’t know [Carney] was closed and decided they would transport themselves to the hospital.”

Since the closing of Carney last week, an ambulance from the Gloucester-based company has been parked outside of the Emergency Room door around the clock at the request of a patient care ombudsman appointed by a Texas Bankruptcy Court judge overseeing the Steward Health case. The suggestion came at the last minute after the ombudsman revealed that the Carney remained busy and a patient with a non-fatal gunshot wound showed up for emergency treatment only days before the closure was scheduled.

Rosado told The Reporter that patients have had “minor medical” needs so far and that there's been “nothing too crazy.” However, those who do need to be transported have been brought to Beth Israel Milton Hospital and Boston Medical Center (BMC) in the South End.

“I would say 75 percent of them have gone to the BI Milton and the other 25 percent have gone to the Boston Medical Center,” Rosado said.

Rosado is especially happy to help the community for another week since he was born, raised, and continues to live in Dorchester.

The Lower Mills resident said the news of Carney closing was “devastating.”

He added, “Since I’ve been a kid that’s all I’ve ever known. I've had family members that have worked there and gone there since I was a child so it’s definitely a big loss for the community.”

Like many residents, Rosado hopes to see some kind of medical facility take over 2100 Dorchester Ave.

“I would love to see an urgent care there; something like the East Boston [Neighborhood] Health Center where it’s a big staple of the community and you're able to go in there and get a little bit more,” he added.

Based on his experience, he said a new medical center wouldn’t just benefit those in the neighborhood but the doctors, employees, and patients at other facilities too. “To overload the BI Milton, it's not going to help anyone. Dorchester is a unique community, Mattapan and Hyde Park, a lot of those residents rely on the Carney and that’s all they know.For their whole lifetime, it’s been the Carney.”

District 3 City Councillor John FitzGerald added that the extension only emphasizes the great loss the community is facing.

“It’s nice to hear that ambulatory services will be provided another week, but ultimately it just shows that health care services need to be continued at this site,” he said.

A spokesperson for the DPH was looking into the ambulance extension at press time.