Senatobia, MS -
FAST FACTS:
Dennis.turner@wreg.com
(Senatobia, MS 9/15/2009) The death of a Tate County woman raises questions among her family about ambulance response times.
It happened in Senatobia, the Tate County seat of government.
Critics are now calling for the County to resume running its own ambulances.
Emergency response time is always critical, but in rural areas, its especially important. It's also especially hard since you typically find fewer ambulances covering a wider area.That seems to be the problem in this case.
Marquita Jackson walked in her mother's home and saw her unconscious on the floor.
She says firefighters responded quickly, but she had to wait too long for an ambulance. Her mother, Renette, died. Now Jackson wants changes. "Better service period. Just better service. I mean, if you gotta get out there, get out there!" she explained.
She calls it a mistake for Tate County to abandon it's own ambulance service to contract with a private company called "MedStat" to take over.
Company managers though say they normally respond in minutes."Our normal response time for Senatobia, for the last three months is about 5.8 minutes." said MedStat CEO Barry Eskridge.
He says all his units were already busy that night, and he had to bring an ambulance up from Sardis which arrived only 13 minutes after getting the call.
When it comes to serious emergencies, Tate County is in a unique situation. That's because the worst cases have to be transported 30 minutes away to Baptist DeSoto in Southaven, taking an ambulance out of service for an hour or more.
Senatobia's Mayor says He understands the problem. "Overall we're pleased with MedStat." said Alan Calicott.
But he says his fire department often will answer calls like rescues and heart attacks even when MedStat has an ambulance on the way. "We're here on certain cases to assist." he explained.
Calicott says a meeting with MedStat, an alderman, and County Supervisor settled everything. Tate County now has an extra ambulance in the area, one Eskridge managed to provide without additional cost. "We have been placing a third ambulance here on our dime basically they hadn't asked us to we just saw there were certain times we needed it." he said.
But Marquita Jackson says the damage is done. "I can't count on 'em, you know? I couldn't count on 'em then, I can't count on 'em now." she said, holding back tears.
Eskridge of MedStat says even though there's no guarantee that the third ambulance will solve every problem, he notes it's more than Tate County has ever had available. He says he aims to make sure this problem does not happen again.
- Renette Jackson died on floor of home
- Accounts vary as to response time
- Ambulance company makes changes
Dennis.turner@wreg.com
(Senatobia, MS 9/15/2009) The death of a Tate County woman raises questions among her family about ambulance response times.
It happened in Senatobia, the Tate County seat of government.
Critics are now calling for the County to resume running its own ambulances.
Emergency response time is always critical, but in rural areas, its especially important. It's also especially hard since you typically find fewer ambulances covering a wider area.That seems to be the problem in this case.
Marquita Jackson walked in her mother's home and saw her unconscious on the floor.
She says firefighters responded quickly, but she had to wait too long for an ambulance. Her mother, Renette, died. Now Jackson wants changes. "Better service period. Just better service. I mean, if you gotta get out there, get out there!" she explained.
She calls it a mistake for Tate County to abandon it's own ambulance service to contract with a private company called "MedStat" to take over.
Company managers though say they normally respond in minutes."Our normal response time for Senatobia, for the last three months is about 5.8 minutes." said MedStat CEO Barry Eskridge.
He says all his units were already busy that night, and he had to bring an ambulance up from Sardis which arrived only 13 minutes after getting the call.
When it comes to serious emergencies, Tate County is in a unique situation. That's because the worst cases have to be transported 30 minutes away to Baptist DeSoto in Southaven, taking an ambulance out of service for an hour or more.
Senatobia's Mayor says He understands the problem. "Overall we're pleased with MedStat." said Alan Calicott.
But he says his fire department often will answer calls like rescues and heart attacks even when MedStat has an ambulance on the way. "We're here on certain cases to assist." he explained.
Calicott says a meeting with MedStat, an alderman, and County Supervisor settled everything. Tate County now has an extra ambulance in the area, one Eskridge managed to provide without additional cost. "We have been placing a third ambulance here on our dime basically they hadn't asked us to we just saw there were certain times we needed it." he said.
But Marquita Jackson says the damage is done. "I can't count on 'em, you know? I couldn't count on 'em then, I can't count on 'em now." she said, holding back tears.
Eskridge of MedStat says even though there's no guarantee that the third ambulance will solve every problem, he notes it's more than Tate County has ever had available. He says he aims to make sure this problem does not happen again.
