EMERGENCY

DISPATCHES

Broadcasts about these fire and ambulance calls were monitored this past week by the newspaper:

AUG. 16

7:44 a.m. — An 86-year-old woman with rectal bleeding was taken by Marion ambulance from Hilltop Manor apartments in Marion to NMC Health, formerly Newton Medical Center.

5:53 p.m. — A feverish 31-year-old man who recently had gall bladder surgery was taken by Tampa ambulance first to Hillsboro Community Hospital, then to the Hillsboro ambulance station, and finally to NMC. Tampa firefighters helped lift the patient. The ambulance returned to Tampa at 9:12 p.m.

AUG. 17

4:10 a.m. — An unresponsive 74-year-old woman was taken by Marion ambulance to St. Luke Hospital, Marion, from a farm home near Cedar Point on Bluestem Rd., a mile north of 130th Rd. First responders from Florence were paged but did not answer.

7:27 p.m. — A female inmate having a seizure at Marion County Jail was taken to St. Luke by Marion ambulance. A sheriff’s deputy accompanied the ambulance.

9:46 p.m. — Peabody firefighters needed less than half an hour to force their way into a building and extinguish a small fire on a trailer inside it.

10:13 p.m. — A semi-conscious 87-year-old man with a low blood-oxygen level was taken by Marion ambulance from Marion Assisted Living to St. Luke.

THURSDAY

12:31 a.m. — An 80-year-old woman complaining of groin pain at a home in the 500 block of N. Coble St. in Marion declined to be taken to a hospital by Marion ambulance.

11:16 a.m. — Marion ambulance returned to the same address to help what apparently was the same patient get up from a toilet. She again declined to be taken to a hospital.

FRIDAY

1:36 p.m. — With Peabody ambulance not available, an 85-year-old man with chest pains at Peabody Health and Rehab was taken to St. Luke by Hillsboro ambulance.

3:44 p.m. — Goessel firefighters briefly were called to help Harvey County firefighters with a grass fire on what would be Diamond Rd. extended south from Marion County.

7:42 p.m. — An accidentally activated fire alarm at a freshman men’s dorm at Tabor College in Hillsboro was rest by Hillsboro firefighters.

SATURDAY

10:04 a.m. — With Peabody ambulance again not available, a 76-year-old man having trouble breathing at Peabody Health and Rehab was taken to NMC at 10:45 a.m. by Hillsboro ambulance.

The ambulance arrived at the nursing home 19 minutes after it was paged. While the ambulance was en route, the patient stopped breathing, and ambulance attendants attempted — in vain — to contact an off-duty Peabody ambulance attendant to serve as a first responder.

1:18 p.m. — A fire alarm at the former hospital in Hillsboro was checked by Hillsboro’s fire chief and proved to be a false alarm.

5:10 p.m. — A 94-year-old woman whose family asked that she be taken to a hospital after several days of illness was taken by Hillsboro ambulance to HCH from Parkside Homes assisted living.

6:10 p.m. — A 78-year-old woman who fell outside of a home in the 100 block of N. Roosevelt St. in Marion was taken to St. Luke by Marion ambulance.

10:40 p.m. — After being diagnosed with a fractured leg, what appeared to be the same patient was transferred by Marion ambulance on a non-emergency basis from St. Luke to Ascension Via Christi St. Francis Hospital, Wichita. The ambulance returned to Marion County at 12:50 a.m. and relieved Tampa ambulance of standby duties related to the next call.

11:57 p.m. — A trucker thought to be from Oklahoma died when his semitrailer box truck careened off US-50 and into a tree after striking a bull that had ventured onto the highway west of Nighthawk Rd.

Peabody ambulance again was not available. Peabody firefighters arrived within six minutes of the initial call and attempted to free the driver, who was reported to be unconscious and pinned in the wreckage. They reported difficulty reaching him to start chest compressions.

Hillsboro ambulance did not arrive until 17 minutes after the initial call. By that time, Peabody firefighters had reported that the driver had no pulse. Ambulance attendants called for a coroner and canceled a call for a helicopter ambulance, which was more than an hour away.

About 100 yards west of where the truck came to rest, sheriff’s deputies located the badly injured but still living bull along with tire marks thought to be related to the accident.

With Marion ambulance on a call to Wichita, Tampa ambulance was activated and reposition to near Canada to handle any additional ambulance calls until Hillsboro or Marion ambulance became available.

Hillsboro ambulance returned to its station but at the request of sheriff’s deputies was summoned back at 1:52 a.m. to draw blood from the victim.

Firefighters and deputies remained at the scene until 3:40 a.m.

SUNDAY

12:01 p.m. — Peabody firefighters spent nearly five hours containing a small grass fire that spread to 15 large round hay bales on 30th Rd. between Limestone and Mustang Rds.

6:24 p.m. — A lethargic 93-year-old woman, unable to keep down food at Parkside Homes, was taken to HCH by Hillsboro ambulance.

10:07 p.m. — Another Parkside Homes resident, this one complaining of hip pain, was taken to HCH by Hillsboro ambulance. The patient’s age and gender were not recorded on newspaper monitoring equipment.

MONDAY

10:02 a.m. — After nearly 10 minutes of confusion over the address of the call, a 57-year-old woman with a persistent headache in the 700 block of E. Main St. in Marion was taken to St. Francis by Marion ambulance. The ambulance returned to Marion at 12:51 p.m.

8:49 p.m. — An injured inmate was taken by Marion ambulance from the county jail to St. Luke. Both the sheriff and the undersheriff also reported to the hospital.