SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB) – Springfield native Jimmie Acevado was brutally shot in the early morning hours of January 16. While desperately waiting for paramedics to arrive, police officers began life-saving measures.
But it took an ambulance 17 minutes to arrive on scene.
It was an example of how taxed the local emergency response system can get.
Between 5:00 and 6:00 a.m. on January 16, Emergency Management Director Bob Hassett says American Medical Response was already overloaded with 10 emergency calls, and coupled with snowy conditions, struggled to quickly respond to Monmouth Street.
That’s where Jimmie Acevado had been shot a dozen times. AMR called for mutual aid but no other companies could help.
“There was a crew delivering a patient to Baystate Medical Center, they released that patient as soon as possible from the crew and diverted the crew up to Monmouth Street to take care of them,” Hassett says.
While a quicker AMR response may not have saved Acevado, the delay does raise some concerns from City Councilor Bud Williams, who has heard complaints about ambulance response times.
“In some cases, they’re pretty staggering from what I’ve seen. From what I’ve seen on paper, they are pretty alarming,” says Councilor Williams.
AMR’s contract with Springfield mandates they respond to life threatening calls within 10 minutes, 95% of the time.
AMR meets that standard, yet city records show that more than 320 times in 2012, AMR took more than 10 minutes to respond to life threatening emergencies.
Over 170 times AMR listed the reason for the delay as the nearest ambulance being too far from the call.
Over 35 other times they listed delay reasons as “undetermined.”
Dr. John Santoro chairs the City of Springfield EMS Commission, which meets monthly with AMR.
“If you get an answer of unknown that’s unsettling and you try to explore it as much as you can. If you push that as far as you can and it’s still unknown,” Dr. Santoro says, “As long as it’s a small number and as long as you can say okay into the next month we don’t want to see unknowns, we want you in real time to determine what the reason for that is, so yeah we look at those.”
Some life threatening calls took anywhere from 11 to 43 minutes.
ABC40 has been working on this story for more than a month, and we reached out to AMR several times, offering them a chance to talk about this issues on camera, and requesting a ride along.
Eventually, AMR would only issue a statement pointing out those longer-than-10-minute responses are the exceptions saying, “We responded to more than 30,000 calls last year. The average response time for priority one calls was 6:48 (6 minutes and 48 seconds). We respond to each call promptly and safely.”
“They work very hard, we know that they work very hard,” explains Councilor Williams.
He adds that given the delay numbers, he questions if AMR is stretched too thin.
“We’re not here to point fingers at anyone. We’re just trying to make services better for the citizens because at the end of the day, this is about life and death,” says Councilor Williams.
Dr. Santoro told us the EMS Commission holds AMR accountable for their response times.
“If we got a complaint that looks like it grouped or bunched, either a particular neighborhood or a section in the city or a particular time of day, then what we would do as a commission is ask the contract holder to address that specific problem and ask them how are we going to solve this?,” Dr. Santoro adds.
Paramedics say that from snowstorms to missing street signs, though, they are challenged before even beginning to respond to the call, including the human factor.
“We see delays due to traffic. How many of us have been behind people who wouldn’t pull over for police cars, fire cars, ambulances either because they are unaware it’s behind them or they panic,” Hasset says.
Hasset adds that AMR works with other providers for mutual aid, but some days the call volume is overwhelming.
The EMS commission creates ambulance guidelines and makes recommendations to the mayor.
Santoro says where ambulances are placed while waiting for a call is a scientific process.
“This ambulance takes a patient in, the other ambulances circle around to do some overlapping coverage for that,” Dr. Santoro explains, “And the only way you can judge if that’s a workable solution is to look at these.”
Councilor Williams says while only a fraction of the calls take more than 10 minutes, something must be done to help the EMT’s and citizens.
“Let’s improve it. Let’s make it better. As I said, we’re not here to point fingers. We’re here to provide better services for our taxpayers,” says Councilor Williams.
AMR’S three year contract in Springfield expires this year.
While AMR meets all guidelines set by the city, Dr. Santoro says any company can bid for the job.
Given last year’s distance delays, will more manpower be on the table?
“It may be more ambulances, during a particular time of day or day of week. Or it may be that they are going to re-position the ambulances that they do have,” says Dr. Santoro.
The EMS Commission reports they have not received an overwhelming number of complaints against AMR, but that they are always looking to improve the system.
One of those ways, Hassett says, is citizens knowing when to call 9-1-1.
“If you’re just looking for a ride to the hospital for a routine, chronic medical problem maybe it isn’t time not to call an ambulance,” Hassett explains, “Maybe it’s time to call someone to help you or call commercial services.”
So AMR failed to respond to the calls with in the time limit about 2% of the time? So why don’t ar have an article thanking the EMS professionals for getting there 98% of the time. That’s better than the national average.
Where in this story does it mention the people with sore throats and earaches that are under the age of 30 that utilize EMS as a taxi service.
Why doesn’t someone from WGGB
ride with AMR and really see what goes on and then report on both sides!! Our first responders rock and aren’t paid enough for all they do and the abuse they put up with!! Thank you AMR for the 98% of the time for getting there!! You are awesome!!
Brendan Monahan…great job on this story…and as a healthcare worker, I almost applauded when you specifically mentioned the people using EMS for non emergent conditions. Thankyou!!!
yea but Flavor Flav says 911 a joke. Now i read that people use it as a taxi ? Say it ain’t so!
How about the Fire Dept that took 14 minutes to respond to my husband’s car fire back in November? The Fire Dept was about 1-1/2 miles up the street. ……and several phones calls later.
This story is just weird…they are criticizing the system even though AMR easily exceeded the 95% 10 min response time agreed upon by the city in the contract??? They should be congratulating AMR, or actually the EMS personnel, instead of criticizing them! If anything higher than 95% was reasonable they no doubt would’ve put that figure in the contract instead… And what a coincidence that they air this story now condemning AMR for a job well done and the contract is up this year…
…and let’s put Councilor Williams behind the wheel of a rear wheel drive metal box during a snow storm and see how far he gets in 10 minutes..
Why was most of the story quotes from Bob Hassett and John Santoro? I understand that they are are on the EMS Commission for the City of Springfield but why did WGGB not talk to the actual 911 provider, American Medical Response? Not much of an “investigative report.” Looks like AMR showed up to priority one calls more than 97% of the time. I also would also like to see WGGB do a story on the “911 abuse and misuse.” I have been in the ER before and saw people coming in by ambulance for a sore throat and the common cold. I think the media (WGGB or others) need to get in touch with the 911 provider for the city, look at the statistics, report on this and maybe pair up with them for some community education.
On a sad side note, according to earlier published reports Acevedo was shot nearly two dozen times. Sadly, I’m not sure that a shorter response time would have had made a significant difference.
I think if any emergency vehicle gets behind someone who does not pull over immediately because they don’t realize an ambulance, firetruck, or police officer is behind them they should receive a fine. I also think that the state should allot more money to go to our emergency responders and allow 2 ambulance companies to have contracts in the larger cities so that response times are at there best. As a healthcare professional I think all the emergency responders are wonderful and they are out their in all elements of weather. They put up with a lot of nonsense. People who use 911 as a taxi should be ashamed of themselves.
The last comment of the artical says it the best. Maybe if there wernt so busy picking up drunks , drug addicts and i stubbed my toe patients it would free up resources . How adout this one driving people to the er to walk out the side door. To go visit friends and don’t pay a penny for their insurance.
Why is AMR being attacked here? I’m not sure what the motive is but I know during the aftermath and during all these storms and tornados they worked hard to help get Springfield back on their feet. I wouldn’t want them anywhere else. They are first responders all over the country and they have the man power to respond to disasters.
Thank you sincerely to all who are congratulating AMR. There are so many things all EMS workers struggle with but for the most part we do our best and our goals are the same, to help those who need help.
I feel this story was a preemptive measure to show the status of the emergency response times and how they are handled before all hell breaks lose that an individual died and it happened (unfortunately) to be one of the 2% of cases where it took more than 10 mins to get there. Although, it appears that EMS would have most likely been unable to save him. Reading between the lines…
You might also mention that Springfield gets that better than required performance for free. That’s right, Springfield doesn’t pay AMR a penny for providing 911 EMS service. It costs about $600,000 dollars a year to put one ambulance on the road.
Aren’t there better stories out there? Why undermine emergency services?
@Marti-Ann they need to boost their ratings. I can’t remember the last time I watched ABC40 before today at 5.
Wggb has sold its soul to another company in the city on this one. That is why amr is being attacked. Bottom of the mutual aid list and top of the list for wggb ride along. Seems a little fishy.
i would be willing to bet , that if you look at the demographics of the locations that they where late , it would show poor neighborhoods get less attention then the rich ones do !!!
That would be incorrect, Chris. Ambulances are posted so that they are closest to the places where they will be needed. So, if anything, they are posted closer to poor neighborhoods. All calls are answered in the order they are taken unless there are more calls than ambulances available. Then they are triaged by acuity. Cardiac arrest gets an ambulance before a sprained ankle. A gunshot gets an ambulance before someone who is vomiting. Chest pain goes before chronic back pain, etc. It doesn’t matter where the call is. If you have a life threatening emergency, you’re a higher priority than someone who is just sick or has minor injuries.
Why don’t you tell the story about un numbered houses, stolen street signs, cell phone callers that don’t understand how 911 works. 911 hang up, EMS being assaulted why desperately trying to find people who have given erroneous addresses. Tell the story about how we grieve for your lost loved ones. How most of us end up having nightmares about what we deal with. How we try desperately to get to you while your friends and neighbors out on the road refuse to yield to us, challenge us, threaten us because we’re trying to get to you. We’re only allowed 10 mph over the speed limit IF it is safe and prudent. Dept of Transportation (our governing agency) does not allow us to drive like fools. We MUST obey most traffic laws. Tell the story about how many EMS providers have DIED in traffic accidents desperately trying to get to you.
You will not be allowed to ride along in any ambulance as its a VIOLATION OF THE FEDERAL HIPPA laws, tell that story instead of saying AMR doesn’t co operate.
I have worked for AMR for 17 years and I would gladly march into hell with some of the best paramedics and EMT’s this state has to offer. You should thank GOD you have the EMS system you do. Others aren’t so lucky
What a bunch of crooks! A few years ago I had the “pleasure” of riding in one of their ambulances which arrived in a timely fashion. I handed the ER guy my insurance card and he said he’d get the information from the hospital. Over two months later, I get a demand notice from them for the amount of $600 and if I didn’t pay right away, they turn the account over to a collection agency. Of course I had to pay it and my insurance company wouldn’t reimburse me.
Insurance companies only pay a percentage of your ambulance bill. We ALL have co pays for an ambulance ride. I live in another area and PVEMS would transport me. I would get an approx bill for $500. That’s your portion. Do your homework
I should have thought to bet that councilor williams was behind or somehow involved with this story. I could have been rich!
Have a look at this…
http://www.medicsbk.com/2013/02/28/emergency-response/