Published June 14 in the Big Sandy News

Complaint against Martin County ambulance service to be probed

By LILLY ADKINS
Big Sandy News Martin County Bureau

INEZ — The Kentucky Board of Medical Emergencies (KBEMS) is investigating a complaint by Martin County EMS against NetCare Ambulance Service regarding delayed response times.

More than 200 instances of en route response times are cited in the complaint filed with KBEMS.

Martin County EMS regional director Marc Tarver said this is the second time his company has filed a complaint against NetCare, adding that Martin County EMS continues to “receive numerous complaints from Martin County 911 dispatchers and county residents pertaining to delayed response times and delayed in-service times.”

“The first complaint that we submitted to KBEMS against NetCare for investigation last year did not result in an investigation of the 911 dispatch log, which is the predominant foundation for the entire complaint,” Tarver said in the complaint. “On this complaint, I took two employees with me to (Martin County 911 DES coordinator) Dallas Sweeney’s. We spent 5.5 hours reviewing the 911 dispatch logs from June 2001 until February 2002. Over 200 in-service times exceeded the state required five minutes and some exceeded 15 minutes.”

Tarver said his complaint was also for the non-utilization of mutual aid from Martin County EMS or other local Class I providers.

Tarver quoted KAR 7:580 section 4(2) which states, “If a Class I ground ambulance provider determines that he is unable to have an ambulance en route responding within five minutes from the initial emergency call received time from the dispatch center or emergency transfer request from dispatch or facility, the provider shall transfer the call to the closest available Class I ground ambulance provider and notify the dispatch center that they are unable to have an ambulance en route to the emergency scene.”

“We are dealing with people’s lives and the first hour is critical,” Tarver said. “You would expect an occasional delay, but not an average of 23 per month with many of them exceeding 15 minutes. That could cost someone their life, if it hasn’t already.”

NetCare Ambulance Service owner Terry Fraley was unavailable for comment. 

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