By Les Mahler
Inside Bay Area (California)
Copyright 2006 MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers
All Rights Reserved
STOCKTON, Calif. — A letter from Stockton Mayor Ed Chavez criticizing American Medical Response’s record in dealing with emergencies has county officials calling Stockton officials obstructionists interested only in keeping millions of dollars in fees for their fire department.
The letter, dated July 27 and delivered to San Joaquin County supervisors on Tuesday, alleges that AMR’s poor response to emergency calls led to a death in June. Besides attributing the death to AMR’s allegedly slow response to the emergency, the letter also criticizes the ambulance company’s alleged poor record in not getting enough information during an emergency call, thereby making it difficult for first responders to find emergency callers in a timely manner.
Stockton, Manteca and Lodi officials are suing the county to try and stop AMR’s takeover of the countywide contract for dispatch service. That lawsuit, which is being heard in Stanislaus County Superior Court, alleges that San Joaquin County has no legal right telling cities where to transfer 9-1-1 calls to, according Dan Cedarborg, assistant count counsel for San Joaquin County.
Stockton has also filed a lawsuit against fire districts and departments that have switched over to AMR alleging breach of contract, Cedarborg said. Thursday morning.
Stockton officials have also filed numerous complaints with the county EMS agency against AMR, said Jason Sorrick, communications director for AMR.
“Ninety percent of the complaints are from Stockton,” Sorrick said. “None are from patients or patients’ family members.”
Supervisor Victor Mow, who along with Supervisor Jack Sieglock, met Chavez and other Stockton officials before the letter was written, said it appeared that Stockton officials werethrowing out complaints about AMRs performance to stop the ambulance company from becoming the countys sole emergency dispatcher.
Mow said he and Sieglock met with Stockton officials a second time after investigating the allegations against AMR. That investigation by the countys Emergency Medical Services cleared AMR of the death, Mow said.
The investigation determined that the victim had a heart attack and didnt call 9-1-1, Cedarborg said. The victim also didnt give the right trailer spot number to AMR dispatchers, according to Cedarborg.
Without the right information, the AMR crew had to call Stockton dispatch who then used a reverse directory to find the right address, he said.
By the time AMR ambulance crew got there, the person was already dead, Mow said Wednesday afternoon.
But the explanation did not sit well with Stockton officials, Mow said.
It appears now that the city of Stockton and the mayor were not satisfied with the explanation, he said. Thats why they followed up with the letter to the whole board.
But Chavez said the letter was intended to address concerns Stockton had regarding dispatch operations.
The fact is, that there are issues going on and we need to address those problems, the mayor said.
But the July letter, along with the complaints and lawsuits amount to obstruction on the part of Stockton officials, Cedarborg said.
Its a money issue, he said. If they lose the volume they cant spread the overhead to keep that many employees employed.