By Megan Matteucci
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — DeKalb County commissioners say they are weighing a request by an ousted ambulance provider to audit the county’s 911 system. But the county CEO says there will be no audit.
At issue is who to blame for delayed ambulance responses: Care Ambulance or DeKalb employees.
“We don’t want to be blamed for an error we haven’t committed,” said Doug Tisdale, Care’s vice president. “We want an independent opinion. I don’t think an audit can do anything but help and show transparency.”
Last week, DeKalb terminated its contract with Care, which provides some of the county’s ambulances. The contract, which was slated to run until March, now ends July 5.
On Tuesday, Care asked the County Commission to hire an independent auditor to look at all 911 calls. Commissioners took no action, but said their public safety committee will discuss it next week.
“At this point, we have to find the facts,” Commissioner Jeff Rader said. “We want to better understand the situation of Adams Stadium and the other contributing factors cited by the administration.”
The commission approves contracts at the CEO’s recommendation, but the commission cannot reverse the CEO’s decision to terminate the contract, Rader said.
However, the board can order an audit. Before that step is taken, commissioners said they need Public Safety Director William “Wiz” Miller to clarify the reasons for dumping Care.
The Care contract allowed the county to terminate the contract with no cause.
Shelia Edwards, CEO Burrell Ellis’ spokeswoman, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the county has no plans to reverse its decision nor to conduct an audit.
“I am assuming that Care is asking for an audit because their contract was canceled. This is not the basis for the county to launch and pay for an audit,” Edwards said in a written statement. “The important issue here is ensuring that quality service is in place for the citizens of DeKalb, which is the administration’s priority relative to this matter.”
Edwards said the county is working on a request for proposals to find a new ambulance provider.
On Friday, Miller said Care is responsible for three calls with extended response times, but he did not identify two of them.
Tisdale said he was aware of only one complaint of a delayed response: a call responding to a 16-year-old soccer player with a head injury. Records show Jonathan Brown had to wait 22 minutes for an ambulance to show up at Adams Stadium last month.
However, Tisdale said the county’s dispatch center is to blame for the slow response.
Miller said an off-duty sheriff’s deputy did not provide a full address when he called about the injured teen. The 911 worker then did not put all of the information into the computer system. But Miller also said Care’s ambulance crew violated policy by searching on the Internet for the stadium’s correct address, instead of calling dispatch for additional help.
Miller said the county also filed a complaint about Care in January. Tisdale denies receiving the complaint. The AJC has requested these documents from the county.
Tisdale said he also requested a meeting with Miller but has not received a response. But county officials said Care has previously declined an invitation to a meeting to discuss concerns about slow responses.
DeKalb is investigating at least three other complaints of delayed 911 responses in May, including a 90-year-old woman with a heart problem, an asthmatic child and a man with an allergic reaction to pine nuts, officials said.
County ambulances — not Care’s — responded to the calls in question, according to Tisdale.
Three 911 workers were disciplined for the Adams Stadium call, Edwards said. County officials have declined to identify the workers or type of discipline.
Copyright 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution