Ambulance response questioned
Commissioner asks for agreements county already has
Staff writer
A rural Lost Springs man’s death Thursday from an apparent heart attack prompted county commissioner Kent Becker to question interim ambulance director Mickey Price Monday whether an agreement was needed with nearby counties to respond to ambulance calls in remote areas of the county.
Such an agreement has been in place with Dickinson County since 2012, but was not invoked in the apparent heart attack death Thursday. Neither Price not Becker was aware of the agreement when they spoke Monday.
At the time the agreement was made, then-ambulance director Steve Smith was asked to create similar contracts with Harvey and Butler counties for ambulance calls in the southern part of Marion County.
Renewed discussion of the agreement came after 60-year-old Darren Makovec was found unconscious and not breathing at a farmhouse south of 340th and Wagon Wheel Rds. He ultimately was pronounced dead after nearly an hour of cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Marion ambulance, 17.3 miles away, was dispatched.
Lincolnville first responders and Lost Springs firefighters also were paged but did not initially answer, so Marion firefighters were dispatched instead. When Lincolnville first responders eventually answered, all but one Marion fire vehicle was told to stand down. Price also responded from Hillsboro.
Price said that when he got there, he was “pretty happy” with the number of responders who already had arrived to help the patient. Four medical personnel, two deputies, and several firefighters were there to help with chest compressions, which callers began under dispatchers’ instructions even before the responders arrived.
Becker said Monday that the county needed agreements for areas where “we don’t have first responders 15 miles out.”
“It may not happen very often, but if one time it saves someone’s life, it’s worth it,” Becker said.
Like Becker, Price, who has been with the ambulance service since 2016, was unaware of the 2012 agreement.
“I guess I’ll get in touch with Mr. Becker, get in touch with the sheriff,” Price said. “I guess if we already have the agreement, we already have the agreement.”
He said he would find out whether the agreement needed to be updated.