EMERGENCY

DISPATCHES

Radio transmissions monitored by the newspaper:

MAY 30

5:22 a.m. — A 56-year-old man who was found with no pulse or respiration at Salem Home was taken to Hillsboro Community Hospital by Hillsboro ambulance.

Marion ambulance initially was paged, but two apparently off-duty Hillsboro EMTs responded instead, arriving within eight minutes.

After requesting assistance from Hillsboro firefighters, the ambulance arrived at the hospital 28 minutes after the initial call.

8:48 a.m. — A vehicle fire at 130th and Quail Creek Rds. was quickly extinguished by Marion firefighters. Marion ambulance also went to the scene as a precaution.

9:36 a.m. — Two victims of a car-truck accident at US-56 and Industrial Rd. in Hillsboro were freed from wreckage by Hillsboro firefighters and taken to HCH by Hillsboro and Marion ambulances.

2:18 p.m. — Hillsboro ambulance was paged four times to an apartment in the 500 block of W. Grand Ave. after an electronic monitoring company reported receiving an indication of a fall and not being able to contact the person being monitored.

With no immediate response from Hillsboro ambulance, Marion ambulance was called instead. However, a Hillsboro police officer arrived at the scene, made contact with the person being monitored, and canceled the call.

Marion ambulance was told to continue on to Hillsboro, however, and transfer a different patient from HCH to Salina Regional Health Center.

When Hillsboro ambulance finally responded to the initial page, dispatchers suggested having it replace Marion ambulance on the patient transfer. However, Hillsboro ambulance responded that it had only one EMT until 6 p.m. and could not perform the transfer.

Marion ambulance returned to quarters at 5:45 p.m.

8:31 p.m. — Two sheriff’s deputies, Tampa ambulance, and a Ramona first responder all were dispatched to a report of a man bleeding from the nose and face and possibly suffering a stab wound in the hand at 300 N. D St. in Ramona. Other information about the call was garbled. Tampa ambulance headed back to its base at 10:12 p.m.

MAY 31

4:31 a.m. — An open valve on an ammonia tank at Cooperative Grain and Supply in Marion was closed by Marion firefighters within 17 minutes of the initial call.

Attempts to reach Co-Op employees to assist appeared to have failed. It was unclear how much ammonia might have been spilled or how the situation was noticed.

9:04 a.m. — A 90-year-old suffering chest pains near 350th and Falcon Rds. was transported to HCH by Tampa ambulance.

Two Tampa EMTs immediately responded, but dispatchers apparently did not hear one of them and dispatched Marion ambulance instead.

Both Tampa EMTs repeated that they had responded. One of them questioned whether the call, to a location northwest of Tampa, was outside Tampa’s response area. A dispatcher responded only with “10-4,” indicating acknowledgment.

When Marion ambulance was not cancelled, Tampa EMTs radioed that they would continue on the call. The county emergency medical services director interceded, canceling the Marion ambulance, which a dispatcher said she had thought she had done.

A Tampa EMT who went in his own vehicle arrived eight minutes after the original call. A second arrived five minutes after that. The ambulance itself arrived 10 minutes later.

Exactly one hour after the initial call, the ambulance headed to HCH with the patient, arriving at 10:26 p.m. The ambulance returned to Tampa at 11:33 a.m.

9:24 a.m. — Marion ambulance was initially dispatched to transfer a patient from HCH to Wesley Medical Center, Wichita, but reported at 10:09 a.m. that it instead was making a hospice transfer from an unidentified private residence in Hillsboro to Salem Home. The ambulance returned to Marion about 11 a.m.

9:36 a.m. — Peabody ambulance was sent to a location that was garbled but took 21 minutes to reach, then transported a patient to Wesley. It returned to Peabody at 12:15 p.m.

12:50 p.m. — Marion ambulance was paged four times without response to transfer a patient from St. Luke Hospital to Wesley. Nine minutes later, after an additional radio transmission by the county EMS director, the ambulance headed for St. Luke. It returned to Marion at 4:08 p.m.

2:35 p.m. — An automated alarm indicating that a sprinkler system at Container Services had been activated resulted in a call to Hillsboro firefighters, one of whom was already on the scene and indicated no need for urgency. Firefighters ended up discovering it was a test.

THURSDAY

5:29 p.m. — A Bethesda Home resident with low blood pressure was transported from Goessel to Newton Memorial Hospital by Marion ambulance.

A lone EMT in Hillsboro ambulance asked whether he also should go as a first responder. A dispatcher said it was optional, but Marion ambulance said he should. The county EMS director then asked whether a Goessel first responder had been paged. Four minutes after the initial call, the page was made.

Transmissions did not indicate arrival on the scene of a Goessel first responder, even though one minute after the Goessel page a Goessel firefighter had responded to a routine daily pager test from a neighboring county.

Marion ambulance arrived 24 minutes after the initial call and reported the patient’s condition to be potentially life-threatening. The ambulance left for Newton 47 minutes after the initial call, arriving a total of 67 minutes after the initial call.

Hillsboro ambulance reported it was available at its station at 7:22 p.m. Marion ambulance reported it was back at its station at 7:31 p.m.

9:42 p.m. — Marion ambulance was told to contact dispatchers by telephone regarding a call dispatchers had just received. No further information was broadcast.

FRIDAY

2:57 p.m. — A woman who was reportedly confused and behaving unusually at Marion Assisted Living Center was taken to St. Luke by Marion ambulance.

10:08 p.m. — Marion ambulance was sent to investigate a report from a medical alarm company of no response after receiving an alert from a residence in the 600 block of S. Roosevelt St.

The ambulance remained on the scene until 10:43 p.m. but did not transport a patient.

Midway through the ambulance’s stay, dispatchers relayed a request from EMTs that Marion’s fire chief personally call them by phone rather than page for assistance from firefighters. No further information was broadcast.

11:30 p.m. — A woman with shoulder pain who then could not feel her legs was taken by Hillsboro ambulance to Newton Medical Center from an apartment in the 600 block of E. Main St. in Goessel. First responders from Goessel also were paged but did not reply. The ambulance returned to Hillsboro at 1:11 a.m.

SATURDAY

9:43 a.m. — A Chingawassa Days visitor who fell and injured his hands apparently received treatment from EMTs at the festival but was not transported to a hospital.

12:20 p.m. — A 70-year-old woman who fell and suffered possible head trauma at Westview Manor in Peabody was taken to St. Luke by Peabody ambulance.

6:19 p.m. — A 91-year-old woman was transferred by Hillsboro ambulance from Bethesda Home to Newton Medical Center. Goessel first responders also were paged but did not appear to respond. The ambulance was back in Hillsboro at 8:23 p.m.

Technical problems prevented monitoring of transmissions from 9 p.m. Saturday to 6 a.m. Sunday.

SUNDAY

6:31 a.m. — Partially garbled transmissions indicate a patient with chest pain was transported by Peabody ambulance to Newton Medical Center.

7:12 p.m. — A 52-year-old man with trouble breathing was transported to St. Luke from the 200 block of Garfield St. by Marion ambulance.

MONDAY

9:36 a.m. — Marion ambulance transferred a patient from St. Luke to Via Christi – St. Francis Hospital, Wichita, returning to Marion at 12:21 p.m.

12:51 p.m. — Hillsboro ambulance transferred a patient from HCH to Wesley, returning to Hillsboro at 3:37 p.m.