By Ted Shockley
The Daily Times (Salisbury, Md.)
Copyright 2008 The Daily Times
ACCOMAC, Va. — Beaten and dazed, the paid Accomack County firefighter-paramedic locked himself inside the ambulance while the man he had been called to assist used a medical bag to hit the vehicle’s window, trying to gain entry.
When the firemedic’s partner ran next door to telephone police, a neighbor ran outside with a gun to lend assistance.
Because the county’s Department of Public Safety lacks the funding for field-level supervisors, the two-person firemedic team had no access to supervisory personnel during the incident -- the staffer locked in the ambulance used a personal cell phone to call an off-duty captain at a private function to inform him of the assault.
A report released last week by the Accomack County Department of Public Safety sheds light on a harrowing Feb. 4 incident in New Church and shows the vague patient information and communication breakdowns involved.
It also includes a list of recommendations for the department, the Eastern Shore 911 Communica-tions Center and the Accomack County Sher-iff’s Office aimed at preventing similar incidents, including the need for the dispatch center to develop policies for on-the-scene emergencies.
Referencing recorded conversations between the 911 center and sheriff’s office, the report states that “communication ambiguity between the 911 center and the sheriff’s dispatch staff contributed to a delay of law enforcement units to the call.”
Also needed is training for medical staff on psychiatric emergencies and the need for a policy “for response to mental/ behavioral/psychological emergency calls,” the report states.
While the report is “not intended to assign blame,” it details a list of contributory problems during the incident, and in a rare disclosure, criticizes the 911 center for its unprofessional handling of Freedom of Information Act requests during compilation of the report.
Jason Loftus, the county’s director of public safety, could not be reached for comment.
Jamie Collins, acting 911 Communications Center director, said he had reviewed the report and the agency was receptive to recommendations.
“We’ll continue to work with Jason at DPS to move toward making some of the recommendations come to fruition,” he said. “Our position is that we certainly don’t want it to happen again.”
The injured firemedic was treated at Shore Memorial Hospital and released. State police arrested the suspect, 38-year-old Orville Brown, at the scene and charged him with felony assault of a firefighter.
The public safety department already has made some policy changes in the wake of the incident, the report shows -- including a directive to carry assigned portable radios outside of stations.