Published May 24 in The Big Sandy News

First Response faces scrutiny

By CHRIS McDAVID
Big Sandy News Johnson County Bureau

PAINTSVILLE — Attorneys with the Kentucky Board of Emergency Medical Services (KBEMS) have been directed to proceed with action against a local ambulance company.

KBEMS executive director, Bryan Bishop, confirmed Wednesday that complaints have been filed against First Response and that the board “authorized general counsel to proceed action.”

First Response is an ambulance service operated in various counties throughout the region. Earlier this month, Paintsville officials expressed concerns about the quality of service and cooperation the ambulance company provides, but the owner of First Response says the criticism is an attempt by the city to run his service out of business and become the sole ambulance service throughout the county.

Bishop could not identify the nature of the complaints currently pending before the board, or if the complaints involved concerns expressed by Paintsville fire chief and ambulance director Bob Dixon during the city council’s open meeting.

Bishop did say that potential actions that could be taken against First Response ranged from a formal private reprimand to license revocation.

During council’s May meeting, Dixon cited two incidents — one of which allegedly involved an hour and 15 minute response delay and the other was in reference to alleged communication problems with dispatchers and response practices to scenes.

Dixon noted that he did not blame First Response with the recent death of a Johnson County man, but noted the patient had to wait for more than hour for an ambulance to respond from another county.

Phillip Elliott, owner of First Response, alleged that Paintsville-Johnson County 911 dispatcher were also to blame for the lengthy response time because they were aware the First Response driver was having trouble finding the scene and did not dispatch another ambulance.

Dixon also cited another run that involved First Response sending an out-of-county ambulance to a scene where a child was not breathing. First Response was at the scene within minutes, but failed to follow proper protocol by not dispatching an ambulance within the county and did not communicate with dispatchers.

Dixon noted that the local dispatch center did not know if the mother and baby had received any help and that a city ambulance was later dispatched to the scene.

Elliott agreed that an out of county ambulance was dispatched by mistake, but said the ambulance was nearly at the scene when the error was noted.

City council is investigating whether the city ambulance service can handle the entire load of servicing the county and considering if First Response should be removed from a dispatch rotation list.

The city ambulance service currently receives all calls within the city limits and shares calls throughout the county with First Response.

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