Excerpts from wcia.com:
It’s been over a month since the fire department’s ambulance service ended. Now some families are feeling the effects of it.
When Jace MacDonald has a seizure, a response from emergency services can get tough for his family. Recently he had a seizure while they were running errands. His mother called for help. She stopped when she saw an ambulance. Two of them drove past her. Then she took matters into her own hands
“We drove by Mitchell-Jerdan. [They] Didn’t haven’t any ambulances there. I took him to Mattoon Fire. I walked in with him postictal and they cared for him through his entire postictal phase. Monitoring his heart rate. His oxygen saturation.Stayed there unless I had to administer his emergency medication and were very very helpful,” says MacDonald.
Alissa MacDonald says she was grateful to those firefighters. She took her concerns to city council, hoping for sympathy or a solution; but, she says there was no response at all.
“Their job on the city council is to represent the citizens of Mattoon and if a citizen of Mattoon comes with a legitimate concern and is respectful and professional I feel like it’s their obligation to express their concerns whether or not they agree with me, the fact that they didn’t have the decency to address me is horrific,”states MacDonald.
We reached out the private ambulance services that have taken on the emergency calls. They say when they’re pulled away to transfer calls which takes away from responding locally. Those can take them as far as an hour or two away.
Still, MacDonald says the council should have been ready for it all.
“They’re lack of preparation is not my emergency. It’s not my son’s emergency and I should not have to suffer the consequences. He certainly shouldn’t have to suffer the consequences because of their poor planning,” says MacDonald.
