LIBERTY — An Amite County resident says she watched in disbelief as a man lay dying in downtown Liberty while waiting for medical transport, but local emergency services providers say there’s a lot more to the story than what she witnessed.
Gail Douglas of Liberty told county supervisors Friday that she watched as a 65-year-old man died in front of the Jr. Food Mart at Clinic Street and East Main streets on Jan. 15.
Douglas said she understood it took nearly an hour for an American Medical Response ambulance to reach the scene, where the man was apparently suffering from a cardiac incident, after his wife called 911.
However, Amite County Coroner and longtime paramedic Cam Sharp said the man received emergency medical attention within minutes.
“How do you provide emergency services?” Douglas asked.
Sharp said the first of two ambulances to arrive to the scene clocked a 17-minute response time — much quicker than the hour speculated by onlookers.
He said a Liberty police officer arrived on scene almost immediately and initiated CPR.
While the officer performed CPR, another man went to Liberty Town Hall to retrieve the new automated external defibrillator that supervisors bought in November.
Civil Defense Director Grant McCurley said first responders administered the device to the dying man within five minutes of the emergency call, which dispatchers received just before noon.
McCurley said the man was pronounced dead after the first ambulance arrived on the scene and their AED device indicated that there was “no shock needed” — he had flatlined.
The ambulance crew that initially responded received another medical call and a second ambulance arrived on scene 40 minutes after the 911 call. That ambulance transported the man to a medical facility in Jackson, officials said.
“Do we have the manpower, facilities or the ability to reach rural areas?” Douglas asked.
Sharp acknowledged that rural areas generally experience longer response time for emergency services, but he also noted that the strength of local emergency medical services has improved. He said before 1997, ambulances averaged a 30- to 40-minute response time in the county. That average has decreased to less than 20 minutes, he said.
A shortage in emergency service technicians is taking its toll on response teams, too. Sharp said the state is experiencing a severe shortage of paramedics and that ambulance companies are understaffed.
He said the areas of Amite, Adams and Wilkinson counties and Concordia Parish, La., are serviced by eight ambulances operated by AMR, employing a “shifting system” that allows for counties to extend aid to each other.
Sharp said the ambulances used in and around Liberty are equipped with all the same technology consistent with ambulances in larger municipalities and across the state. If someone is suffering from something as serious as a stroke, an ambulance arrives to stabilize them and then they are immediately transported by air ambulance to the nearest Level 1 trauma center that’s equipped to treat a stroke patient.
Douglas mentioned she’s heard of a government program called The Siren Act, which apparently awards grants for rural emergency services support. Sharp said he hadn’t heard of the program but would look into it.
Sharp said one of the biggest problems facing Amite County is a lack of emergency response volunteers. He said there are 10 volunteer fire departments across the county, but that they would be lucky to get 12 first responders together in the event of an emergency.
“I believe we need more ambulances in Amite County, but it’s a lot more to it than just to ‘have more ambulances,’ “ Sharp said.
Karen Ward, of Bakersfield, Calif., said she moved to Amite County two years ago. She asked if the board would consider raising taxes by 1% in order to improve emergency medical services in the rural areas.
“We’re going to look at anything that can help,” board president Jackie Whittington said.
