By Megan Matteucci
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — DeKalb County Schools should have had an ambulance waiting when a 16-year-old student fell to the ground with a head injury, county officials said Thursday.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on Wednesday that Jonathan Brown waited 22 minutes for an ambulance to respond to his emergency last Friday night at an Adams Stadium soccer game.
The ambulance company said the delay was because of incorrect information provided by a 911 caller.
School officials said they called 911, along with parents watching the game. The school system had a police officer on the scene, but it does not hire paramedics for each sporting event, district spokesman Dale Davis said.
On Thursday, DeKalb Public Safety director William “Wiz” Miller said the county always will provide help, but schools should be more proactive.
“Yes, we should have been there quicker,” Miller told the AJC. “But at all sanctioned school events, an ambulance should be parked there. Our responsibility is to protect citizens at all times, but the school has a responsibility to protect students and visiting students.”
Brown’s soccer team from Upson-Lee High School in Thomaston was playing Lakeside High in the state soccer playoffs.
The school district only hires ambulances for football games, Davis said. The district, which approved a budget with $107 million in cuts earlier this week, does not have the resources to staff every sporting event now.
Lakeside’s booster club had hired a trainer to be at the game.
“The school district appreciates the committed services and resources the county government provides to the citizenry. We will continue to re-evaluate and adjust our services and resources when it is feasible to do so,” Davis said in a written statement.
Care Ambulance, which responded to Brown’s injury, said on Thursday that they investigated the delay in service and found their staff responded appropriately. DeKalb contracts with Care to provide some of its ambulance services.
The investigation found the 911 callers did not provide enough accurate information, said Doug Tisdale, Care’s vice president.
“Our response to this call was very appropriate,” Tisdale told the AJC. “We can only go based on what information we’re given.”
The first 911 caller said the student was at a soccer field at Briarcliff and North Druid Hills roads, Tisdale said. The ambulance went to the location, but didn’t see a soccer field. Dispatchers then told the paramedics that the emergency was at Adams Stadium on Tullie Road, Tisdale said.
The ambulance went to Tullie, but again couldn’t find the soccer field.
It wasn’t until minutes later that paramedics learned the stadium was at 2383 North Druid Hills Road — which is .12 mile from the intersection with Briarcliff.
“That’s sad at this point where we have so much technology that you’re telling me you can’t find the address of a stadium that’s been there for 30 to 40 years,” said Johnny Brown, the injured student’s father.
The father, along with several other parents at the game, said they made multiple 911 calls and the wait was longer than 22 minutes.
“There is no way they responded within 22 minutes,” the father told the AJC. “They may have left the building, but my son was on the ground for at least 45 minutes with his head being stabilized between the trainer’s knees.”
Brown, the team’s goalie, was treated for a concussion at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston.
He was released the next day and is now back at school, his father said.
Copyright 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution