The Reporter newspaper, Camdenton Missouri

The Reporter covers Miller, Morgan and Camden County in Central Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks and is published once per week on Wednesdays.

Published September 24, 2014

Mercy explains delay in Linn Creek patient response

By Dale Johnson
CAMDEN COUNTY – Mercy Ambulance explained to the Camden County Ambulance District board last week as to why there was a delay in getting to a patient in Linn Creek.

The ambulance district contracts out the medical services to Mercy.

On August 26 a call came in from a cell phone of a patient in need of an ambulance in the Linn Creek area. Mercy’s response was delayed in getting to the patient even though an ambulance station is located at Y road and Highway 54, several minutes away.

A spokesman from Mercy explained why the delay occurred, blaming it on three problems that converged at the same time.

• Radio system failure: The spokesman said that a radio failure, due to an intermittent problem with the system because of a storm, was partly to blame.
• Call dropped: The 911 call came in from a cell phone and somehow the call got dropped, forcing the caller to dial 911 again, according to the spokesman.
• Multiple calls: Two calls had come in almost back-to-back, adding to the problem, the spokesman said.

Mercy did say that the patient survived.

Board member Rick Bryant said he had later received a call from the original 911 caller complaining about the delay. Bryant said he knew the caller which was why he received the complaint.

Mercy apologized for the incident and asked that the ambulance board agree to pay approximately $3,000 per year for the communication company to regularly check the radio system for potential problems.

The board approved the expense.

In other business at last week’s meeting:

• Mercy asked for software upgrades for the Lifepak monitors. The cost of the upgrade would total $291 for all seven Lifepaks. The board approved the expense.
• A fire inspection from the Osage Beach Fire Protection District on the Linn Creek Station fire and sprinkler system was noted, since apparently it had never been done. The station was cited for that failure and is now set up for annual inspections by the fire department.
• The board approved a change in the deductible for their insurance. Currently they have a $5,000 deductible. For an extra $444 per year the district can cut their deductible from $5,000 to $2,500. Damage to the Macks Creek tower from a storm will cost the district approximately $3,000 to fix. If the deductible had been lower the district could have saved money. Board members agreed that this is a “no-brainer” and approved the expense.
• A discussion focused on the coming winter and the district’s supply of ice melt. Some members of the board believe that this coming winter will be worse than last year’s and wanted to increase their supply of ice melt as a precaution. The board approved the added ice melt.
• Mercy reported that there were 257 calls for the month of August, which is a record high for that month.

The next meeting of the ambulance district is scheduled to be held Tues. October 21 at 5:30 p.m. at the district’s headquarters in Camdenton.