By PJ Green
The Kansas City Star
ATCHISON COUNTY, Kan. — Dan Henson tried to avoid visions about death as he was suffering a heart attack on May 19.
He had a lot of time to think about it as he sat in Amberwell Atchison, a hospital in Atchison, Kansas, in the Amberwell Health system, where he waited five hours to be transported by ambulance to another hospital for better treatment.
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Henson, 72, was taken to Amberwell by his wife, Roxanne, at approximately 6 p.m. after experiencing shortness of breath and chest pain. Two hours later, doctors said Henson would need to be transferred to a bigger hospital. Henson chose Mosaic Life Care in St. Joseph, Missouri, 30 miles north of the Atchison hospital.
Evening storms prevented the option of a medical flight transport.
But getting prompt ground transport by ambulance also became an issue as the hours ticked by.
Medical personnel told the Hensons they were waiting for an ambulance with a paramedic onboard. Henson was ultimately taken to St. Joseph by Jackson County EMS out of Holton, Kansas. That ambulance came from Topeka, Henson was told.
Henson wasn’t admitted to Mosaic until near 2 a.m. the next morning, he said. He was released from the hospital five days later.
“I was anxious, scared a little bit,” Henson told The Star. “You don’t know if you’re going to make it or not. This might be over.”
Amberwell Health, part of a healthcare system that has locations in rural Kansas, did not respond to The Star’s request for comment.
Henson is a Kansas City native who has lived in Atchison since the early 1970s. A laborer, Henson worked a variety of jobs, including a miller at a corn plant and a pipe maker at a pipe company. Now, he’s retired and making time for his four grandchildren and great-grandchild.
Henson and his wife brought their incident to the attention of local officials at an Atchison County commissioners meeting July 22, where Atchison County emergency medical services (EMS) Chief Corey Scott told them the county had ambulances available with an advanced emergency medical technician (EMT), but not a paramedic, at the time of Henson’s transfer.
Henson said he isn’t looking for money or recognition by bringing his incident to local officials and the public. He hopes he can make changes, like a bigger budget for Atchison County EMS, so a situation like this doesn’t happen to someone else, and end with the possible loss of a life.
“You have a major wreck, or you have somebody that’s maybe worse shape than I was, you’re not gonna make it,” Henson said.
New hospital protocols
During the commissioners meeting, Scott said he investigated the incident and confirmed that Henson’s doctor preferred a paramedic for his transfer. Health privacy laws prevented him from speaking candidly about Henson’s medical status.
However, Atchison County EMS did not receive a call after 6 p.m. on May 19, according to Scott. The county keeps a minimum staffing of two ambulances and a nontransporting EMS vehicle, Scott said.
“I can’t answer as to why our services weren’t utilized,” Scott said in the meeting. Scott told Henson that he should ask his doctors at Amberwell, as he couldn’t discuss his case in the meeting. Amberwell did not respond to The Star’s request for comment by the time of publication.
Scott also told Henson that Atchison County EMS and Amberwell have “differing priorities”, with the county’s priority being 911 service.
Since Henson’s incident, Atchison County EMS has met with staff at Mosaic and Amberwell, and newer protocols have been established. Scott declined to comment to The Star on what was discussed in the meetings, citing health privacy laws, because specific cases were discussed.
“We’ve also come to some medically solid decisions backed by the cardiologist in Mosaic on when a transfer should be taken with an advanced EMT, in lieu of waiting on a paramedic to come in,” Scott said on July 22.
Those answers did not satisfy Henson, who would still like to climb the ladder of Kansas public officials to gain more funds for county EMS. Henson regards himself as a relatively healthy man, but he said the heart attack was the biggest health scare of his life.
He was a martial artist when he was younger, and still rides a stationary bike. He believes those athletic endeavors worked in his favor on May 19 , when his anxiety rose by the hour as he awaited treatment.
Now, Henson hopes area officials can learn from the incident and increase funds so other rural citizens won’t face similar situations.
“What can anybody do? Because we got to have people,” Henson told commissioners on July 22. “You can’t put politics above people’s health.”
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