By Jim Lockwood
The Times-Tribune
LACKAWANNA COUNTY, Pa. — Five North Pocono townships suing Lackawanna County over its dispatching of advanced life support services claim the system ignores municipal designations.
The county says the 911 Dispatch Center dispatches ambulances based on the needs of the patients.
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In a lawsuit filed Aug. 13 in Lackawanna County Court, the townships of Covington, Jefferson, Madison, Roaring Brook and Spring Brook claim they each have designated the Covington Independent Volunteer Fire Company as their primary provider of advanced life support (ALS) services.
Jefferson Twp . in April voted in favor of designating the fire company as primary ALS provider and the other four municipalities adopted resolutions to the same effect. Madison and Covington adopted their resolutions in May and Roaring Brook and Spring Brook did so in June.
But the county, through its Emergency Management Services Department, “has refused to honor” the townships’ designations because their language “endangers public safety by limiting dispatch to the fire company for ALS services,” and not allowing the closest ALS unit to be dispatched when the fire company unit is unavailable, according to the lawsuit.
The townships claim that assertion by the county is wrong because their designations say that if the fire company ALS is not available, the county 911 Dispatch Center then “shall follow the assigned run card or request the closest available ALS unit to respond.”
After unsuccessful negotiations over the dispute, the townships now seek a court order compelling the county to follow the municipal directions. The county’s stance “disrupts the townships’ ability to ensure efficient and reliable EMS services for their residents, creating uncertainty and potential delays in emergency responses,” the lawsuit claims.
In dispatching life support services, the county, as the EMS coordinator and operator of the 911 dispatch service, “has a primary concern” for the safety of residents, and the municipal designations put “lives in danger,” according to a June 2 letter from Lackawanna County Solicitor Donald Frederickson to Jefferson Twp ., and which is an exhibit in the lawsuit.
Frederickson urged the townships to amend their designations to say: “If the provider, Covington Independent Fire Company, does not have an in-service Advanced Life Support (ALS) vehicle within the township coverage area, then the closest ALS vehicle should be dispatched, as appropriate.”
In a statement issued Wednesday, Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan said the county is committed to timely ambulance responses and the townships are trying to force the county to dispatch ambulances in accordance with municipal resolutions rather than patients’ needs; and the 911 center will continue to dispatch the nearest available advanced life support ambulance.
The 911 dispatchers know the location of every available unit through a complex countywide GPS tracking system, the county said in the statement. It also cited Al Kearney , the county director of emergency services and 911 coordinator, as saying there are cases when the Covington ALS unit, even if it is available, can be much farther from a call than another unit.
“If you’re experiencing a heart attack or stroke, or if you are injured or have another serious medical emergency, time is everything,” Gaughan said. “We have a moral obligation to get people the help that they need as quickly as possible. This is about saving lives more so than municipal resolutions. Dispatching a unit that is farther away defies common sense.”
Frederickson added the county could face serious legal liability if a delay inherent in dispatching a unit other than the nearest one results in a patient’s further injury or death.
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