Ambulance response times are again under fire after a Williams resident dies while waiting for a Lifeline ambulance after 911 was called for help.
The call for help came into Williams PD via 911 around 12:05 p.m. reporting a serious medical aid at 219 E Route 66. Lifeline Ambulance advised Williams PD dispatch that the nearest available ambulance would be coming from the Prescott area with a 1.5 hour response time.
Williams Fire Department was dispatched to assist at the incident, presumably due to the lengthy response time of the ambulance. Williams Fire normally does not respond to medical aids, leaving it up to the ambulance company to handle calls.
According to the Arizona Fire Chiefs Association, Williams may be the only fire department in the state that does not respond to medical aid calls, a situation the City Council recently addressed and intends to change.
The 911 call was made by Merle Hamburger, a friend of the victim. According to Hamburger, ” I told the police and ambulance dispatchers he was in a bad way and needed an ambulance immediately. He couldn’t get out of bed and his face was severely swollen. I thought he might be having a stroke.”
Williams Volunteer Fire Chief Chase Pearson responded to the call and advised the dispatcher it was an “Alpha response” which means minor in nature and that he didn’t need any additional Firefighters to respond despite Hamburgers initial observations that the patient needed immediate care.
Approximately 55 minutes after he arrived, Pearson put out a call requesting additional fire personnel to respond as the patients condition had deteriorated to a “Delta or Echo response”, Echo indicating a full cardiac arrest. The 55 year old male had apparently gone into cardiac arrest while he and Pearson waited for the ambulance to arrive.
Despite the best efforts of Firefighters, and the Lifeline Ambulance crew that finally arrived, the patient was pronounced dead at the scene.
A shortage of ambulances and lengthy response times has been a continuing issue throughout the state. Many Fire Departments have highlighted the issue and the dangers it presents to the public. A letter writing campaign to Arizona Governor Ducey was largely ignored by his office and the problem persists with no solution in sight. Adding to the problem, ambulances in Williams are required to be staffed with 1 EMT and 1 Paramedic. Due to a shortage of Paramedics, it is not uncommon to have only 2 EMTs on an ambulance. EMTs have less training than Paramedics and are unable to perform certain procedures and administer advanced drugs, thus providing a lower level of care. Given the time it takes to drive a patient to the hospital in Flagstaff, this lower level of care could lead to an otherwise preventable loss of life.
Friends of the deceased are questioning how the victim could die with a Paramedic at the scene for nearly an hour and why he didn’t opt to call for another ambulance company, or an Air Ambulance to respond to transport the patient. In extreme cases, a patient can be transported by fire personnel or in a private car.
Pearson is reported to be a full time Firefighter Paramedic with the Verde Valley Fire District, as well as Volunteer Fire Chief in Williams. Pearson is believed to have applied to fill the newly created full time Fire Chief position in Williams. Pearson was denied a promotion to Fire Captain, a much lower rank than Chief in Verde Valley earlier this year, raising questions as to whether he is qualified to be a full time Chief. The position is scheduled to pay between $79,000 and $104,000 a year, which is sufficient to attract candidates with significant experience and qualifications as a Chief Officer.
The new paid Fire Chief position was not widely advertised and the application period was unusually short, although some outside candidates did manage apply for the position. It is very likely many more qualified applicants would have applied had the position been widely advertised and for a longer period of time.
According to retired Division Chief John O’Neill who served with several large municipal fire departments during his career, “generally, most paid departments require a minimum of 10 years experience as a firefighter, and at least 5 years at the rank of Battalion Chief or above to be considered for the job of Fire Chief. It is virtually unheard of for someone at the rank of Firefighter to be appointed to a paid Fire Chief position. There are just too many things a Fire Chief has to know to be successful, along with the required certifications and experience someone at the rank of Firefighter normally wouldn’t have. There are likely many chief officers with the experience of taking a fire department from volunteer to paid that would apply for the job if it was advertised nationally”.
A former Chief Deputy for a major Arizona Sheriff’s Department who spoke on condition of anonymity due to his current job with another agency said, “If I were handling this incident I would investigate it as a potential negligent homicide as there are questions that need to be answered regarding the ambulance response time and how a patient could go from minor status to death with a Paramedic present, and why that Paramedic didn’t call for help earlier or seek alternative transport options. At the least, malfeasance, misfeasance, or nonfeasance could be involved that would open up the ambulance company and/or city to civil liability, and the Paramedic to possible criminal liability or decertification. There may have been no wrongdoing, but a full investigation needs to be done given that a death occurred and the reporting party claims there were obvious indications that a serious medical issue existed. This Paramedic has a lot of questions to answer, a man died under his care.”
The Williams Police Department contacted the Coconino County Medical Examiners Office to remove the deceased. They will conduct an autopsy that should provide answers as to the cause of death.
The Arizona Department of Health Services may also review the incident to determine if its standards of care were met.
According to Williams Mayor John W. Moore, “this ambulance response time and staffing issue is a continuing problem for Williams and the region and it has to be addressed.”
EDITORS NOTE: Many readers are upset by this story for a variety of reasons. First and foremost we’d like to point out that we have no evidence of wrong doing on the part of anyone involved in this incident. We believe Mr. Pearson to be a man of integrity with years of proven service to this and other communities. Regrettably, Mr. Pearson is prevented by patient privacy laws from commenting on this incident. We will follow up with the Coroner and anyone else appropriate to add facts and perspective to this story. There is no reason to believe that this patient did not receive the best possible care, outside of the ambulance delay. We believe a full and transparent investigation should be conducted to determine what, if anything, went wrong and how it can be addressed in the future. A man died and his friends and family, as well the citizens of Williams deserve nothing less.
We had staff working on a separate article dealing with the selection of a new Paid Fire Chief for Wiiliams and rightly or wrongly we decided to fold it into this story. We stand by our decision to question the process and qualifications that should be used to select the person for this new position. The decisions made by the City Council can have life or death consequences for everyone in Williams, and will impact the direction and quality of the department for years to come. The taxpayers, residents, and visitors deserve the best and most experienced people to lead the department forward in its new and complex structure. Many individuals and families have dedicated themselves to the volunteer fire department and nothing should take away from their decades of sacrifice and service to the community. The growth of the areas population and visitor count simply requires the department be upgraded to meet the new challenges.
The issue of ambulance availability and response times is a nationwide issue and is not limited to Williams. The EMTs and Paramedics on these ambulances do a great job under very difficult conditions and have no say in corporate hiring or staffing decisions. There is a nationwide shortage of EMS workers.
