Local News

DJWH Official Defends Ambulance Crews

The DeWitt County Ambulance Advisory Committee meeting last night where they decided the future of ambulance services in DeWitt County brought accusations towards the Dr. John Warner Hospital's ambulance staff.

Committee Chair Teresa Barnett sited an incident Wednesday afternoon where the DJWH ambulance crew was late arriving to the scene involving someone at the Warner Library. DJWH CEO Earl Sheehy says those accusations came without him and his employees being able to stand up for themselves.

Sheehy says the Wednesday instance when the ambulance crew called back to dispatch for a block number again, which he says is legitimate to ask for a piece of information if they are unsure of something. He also sites an instance in Kenney where his crews asked which route was faster, Route 10 or Route 54, and he believes that is a legitimate question.

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There has been speculation the crews were not using their maps to get the the Warner Library Wednesday. The hospital has not entered into an agreement with anyone to use maps. Sheehy says especially around the library, those maps can be misleading.

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Ambulance crews have been instructed to use the maps on laptops they have been provided. He says in the Wednesday call, crew members were disciplined for using their cell phone maps.

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Sheehy says the Fire Department beat the ambulances to the scene of the incident at the Warner Library because they were much closer. He also defends his crews and says they were well within their response time to get there and they were en route when the call was made to repeat the block number.

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Sheehy says because of the lack of support shown to the hospital and it's ambulance crew, Sheehy fears for what that could mean for the immediate future of their ambulance service.

Tune in to Regional Radio News next week to find out what concerns Sheehy has for his ambulance department moving forward and why.

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