EMERGENCY

DISPATCHES

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

JUNE 3

10:27 a.m. — An automated medical alert on behalf of a 75-year-old woman at Hilltop Manor apartments in Marion was determined by Marion ambulance attendants to be a false alarm.

5:22 p.m. — An oven fire at a home in the 300 block of S. Date St. was extinguished within 15 minutes by Hillsboro firefighters using only an extinguisher.

5:49 p.m. — Goessel firefighters were dispatched by Marion County for a 51-year-old man having trouble breathing near 28th Ave. and Dakota Rd. in McPherson County, but the call was canceled after McPherson County determined it to be outside Goessel’s response area.

10:20 p.m. — A 74-year-old woman who fell and hurt her head at Peabody Health and Rehab was taken to NMC Health, formerly Newton Medical Center, by Marion ambulance. The ambulance returned to Marion at 12:24 a.m.

JUNE 4

10:20 a.m. — An 80-year-old man with chest pain at a farmhouse near 130th and Kanza Rds. was taken to NMC Health by Hillsboro ambulance. The ambulance returned to Hillsboro at 12:24 p.m.

10:50 a.m. — A smoke alarm at Harms Hall on the Tabor College campus was determined by Hillsboro firefighters to have been accidentally activated by maintenance workers.

7:28 p.m. — Goessel firefighters provided initial evaluation before Moundridge ambulance arrived for a 71-year-old woman who fell and hurt her shoulder at a farmhouse near Cimarron Rd. and 27th Ave. in McPherson County.

THURSDAY

12:25 p.m. — An 82-year-old woman with emphysema having trouble breathing at Parkside Homes assisted living at Hillsboro was taken to Hillsboro Community Hospital by Hillsboro ambulance.

12:48 p.m. — A woman bleeding from her face and with leg and ankle pain after a truck accident in the former Family Dollar store parking lot in Peabody was taken to Wesley Medical Center, Wichita, by Marion ambulance. Peabody firefighters and a sheriff’s deputy evaluated the woman before the ambulance arrived at 1:07 p.m. Firefighters later came back to help a towing company.

7:42 p.m. — A 9-year-old boy with appendicitis was transferred from HCH to Wesley.

9:45 p.m. — An 87-year-old woman with trouble breathing in the 200 block of N. Washington St. in Hillsboro was taken to HCH by Hillsboro ambulance. With the ambulance still en route back from Wichita, Hillsboro first responders arrived within four minutes and provided care until Marion ambulance arrived 14 minutes later. Hillsboro ambulance eventually arrived and transferred the patient. The address initially was misreported as being in the 100 block of N. Ash St.

FRIDAY

5:46 a.m. — A 76-year-old man with a do-not-resuscitate directive near 170th and Holly Rd. was pronounced dead at by Hillsboro ambulance attendants. The ambulance and Hillsboro firefighters helped lift the body.

6:56 a.m. — A 74-year-old man not feeling well at a home in the 300 block of N. Cincinnati Ave. in Burns was taken to Susan B. Allen Memorial Hospital, El Dorado, by Marion ambulance. Burns first responders arrived 13 minutes after the call and provided initial care until the ambulance arrived six minutes later. An ambulance supervisor also responded. The ambulance returned to Marion at 9:15 a.m.

7:54 p.m. — A smartphone that fell from a vehicle near 60th and Nighthawk Rds. automatically created a false alarm of a vehicle accident. Dispatchers traced the phone to north of the intersection and called it. Peabody firefighters found it and returned it to its owner.

SATURDAY

5:06 a.m. — After some confusion over her apartment number, a 75-year-old woman with respiratory problems and chest pain in the 500 block of W. Grand Ave. in Hillsboro was taken to HCH by Hillsboro ambulance.

10:34 a.m. — A 66-year-old man with cancer, shallow breathing, and back pain at a residence near 140th Rd. and K-15 was taken to NMC Health by Hillsboro ambulance. Goessel first responders were paged but did not answer. The ambulance returned to Hillsboro at 12:24 p.m.

2:56 p.m. — An uninjured 60-year-old man who fell out of a lift at an apartment in the 900 block of E. D St. was helped up by Hillsboro ambulance attendants and Hillsboro firefighters. He declined to be taken to a hospital.

6:32 p.m. — A 37-year-old man unable to keep down food for three days at Westview Manor in Peabody was taken by Hillsboro ambulance on a physician’s orders to NMC Health.

6:54 p.m. — Hillsboro firefighters with a drone and Marion ambulance were sent to near US-77 and 40th Rd. for a woman who apparently had gone missing, possibly from a Jeep Wrangler parked there.

Although correctly dispatched, both the ambulance and the firefighters initially headed to 340th Rd. and US-56/77 instead of 340 US-77 before being redirected.

With Marion and Hillsboro ambulances on calls, Tampa ambulance was activated to stand by until 8 p.m. at Canada in case of additional calls.

The woman eventually was located by means not announced. Marion ambulance attendants checked her but did not take her to a hospital.

10:07 p.m. — A 77-year-old woman showing signs of a stroke was transferred by Marion ambulance from St. Luke Hospital, Marion, to Wesley. The ambulance returned to Marion at 12:58 a.m.

10:37 p.m. — With Marion ambulance en route to Wichita, Hillsboro ambulance was dispatched for a 48-year-old man with cardiac issues at Chingawassa Days in Marion’s Central Park. He declined to be taken to a hospital.

SUNDAY

1:42 a.m. — An 81-year-old man vomiting and having trouble breathing at Parkside Homes in Hillsboro was taken to HCH by Hillsboro ambulance.

4:16 a.m. — A 67-year-old woman with burns and atrial fibrillation was transferred by Hillsboro ambulance to Ascension Via Christi St. Francis Hospital, Wichita. The ambulance returned to Hillsboro at 6:53 a.m.

4:45 p.m. — At a deputy’s request, Marion firefighters were sent to Marion Reservoir’s French Creek Cove for an unattended fire pit. Another deputy on lake patrol checked the location and found it to be at Hillsboro Cove, not French Creek Cove. After repeated paging, two Marion firefighters responded and quickly extinguished the fire.

6:15 p.m. — Tampa ambulance responded to a medical alert accidentally activated by a cat that stepped on panic button at a home in the 500 block of N. B St. in Ramona.

6:31 p.m. — A missing final digit from an address resulted in ambulances and first responders being sent to an address 36 miles away from where an 82-year-old man with a history of quadruple bypass surgery was suffering chest pains and having trouble breathing.

Marion ambulance and Burns first responders were sent to 336 Wagon Wheel Rd., near Burns. The address quickly was questioned as nonexistent by first responders and by uninvolved citizens listening to dispatches and checking county address databases.

Nonetheless, Hillsboro ambulance also headed toward that address, and Tampa ambulance was told to stand by in Hillsboro in case of additional calls.

Fifteen minutes after the call came in, dispatchers continued to insist that the address was near Burns but three minutes later finally changed to saying it was near Lost Springs.

Marion ambulance, already at US-50, returned to Marion. Tampa ambulance headed from Hillsboro toward Lost Springs,, and Hillsboro ambulance headed there from its location halfway to Burns.

Twenty-six minutes after the initial call came in, the address finally was verified as 3361 Wagon Wheel Rd., and Lincolnville first responders were paged as well.

Tampa ambulance arrived 36 minutes after the initial call. Lincolnville first responders arrived two minutes after that, and Hillsboro ambulance arrived eight minutes after the first responders.

Ambulance attendants asked for a helicopter ambulance to meet them at St. Luke Hospital.

Hillsboro ambulance ferried the patient to St. Luke, arriving at 8:02 a.m. Marion ambulance joined Hillsboro ambulance there. An EagleMed helicopter arrived 15 minutes later and took the patient to Wesley.

All ambulances were back at their bases by 9:12 p.m.

MONDAY

10:27 a.m. — A LifeSafe helicopter ambulance transferred a patient from St. Luke to Wesley.

11:23 a.m. — A tractor fire just south of Limestone and 290th Rds. was extinguished within 30 minutes by Tampa and Durham firefighters.

11:39 a.m. — With Marion ambulance not available for unspecified reasons, Hillsboro ambulance was dispatched to the 200 block of Adams St. in Lincolnville for a 71-year-old man who may have suffered a stroke.

An ambulance attendant asked that a Dickinson County ambulance and Lincolnville first responders also be dispatched.

An emergency medical technician normally assigned to Tampa ambulance was first to arrive by private vehicle 10 minutes after the call. The patient ended up being transported by the Dickinson County ambulance to an unspecified destination.

11:49 a.m. — Dispatchers attempted to divert Hillsboro ambulance along with Marion firefighters to a wreck involving a dump truck that rolled onto its side and a pickup that went into a ditch on US-77 near 150th Rd.

Instead of Hillsboro ambulance responding, a lone supervisor aboard a backup ambulance based in Hillsboro responded as a first-response vehicle, arriving 18 minutes after the initial call.

Dispatchers were told to ask Moundridge ambulance to go to Hillsboro to stand by in case of additional calls. It remained there until 12:32 p.m., and the EMT who responded to the Lincolnville call was sent via private vehicle to the wreck to fully staff the backup ambulance. She arrived at 12:19 p.m.

Tampa ambulance also headed to the wreck to deal with a reported second patient, and the county’s emergency manager was notified at the request of Marion firefighters.

When Hillsboro ambulance was released from the Lincolnville call at 12:12 p.m., Tampa ambulance was still nearly 20 minutes away, so Hillsboro ambulance was sent to the wreck instead. But the calls to both Tampa and Hillsboro ambulance were canceled after the lone medic in the backup ambulance reported, even before the EMT from the Lincolnville call arrived, that one of the two people involved had declined to be taken to a hospital. Eventually, the second person also declined to be taken to a hospital.

Marion firefighters remained at the wreck until 12:50 p.m.

12:18 p.m. — Not yet back in Hillsboro, Hillsboro ambulance was sent to a farmhouse near 220th and Jade Rds. for a 90-year-old woman who may have suffered a stroke.

Tampa ambulance attendants, who thought they might be nearer the address, volunteered to respond instead and asked that Hillsboro first responders also be dispatched, but the ambulance supervisor at the US-77 wreck reassigned the call back to Hillsboro ambulance and also headed to the call in the backup ambulance. Tampa ambulance was told to stand by along US-56 in case of additional calls. It remained there until 12:43 p.m.

Hillsboro ambulance arrived 16 minutes after the initial call and told the supervisor in the backup ambulance that he would not be needed. In the end, the patient declined to be taken to HCH by ambulance and instead went by private vehicle.

2:41 p.m. — With Marion ambulance still not available, Hillsboro ambulance was sent to the Marion County Transfer Station in Marion to take a 60-year-old man who fell to St. Luke.

5:29 p.m. — The backup ambulance transferred a patient from HCH to NMC Health. The ambulance returned to Hillsboro at 7:44 p.m.

10:17 p.m. — Although the call initially went to Marion ambulance, which did respond, Hillsboro ambulance ended up transferring a 71-year-old man from St. Luke to Wesley.

In a jocular violation of radio protocol, a medic announced the ambulance’s departure from Wesley at 12:23 a.m. by telling dispatchers: “The rocket ship is leaving Wesley and launching back to station.” When the ambulance reached Hillsboro at 1:15 a.m., the medic told dispatchers: “A5 to base command. The starship is back in shuttle, ready for launch.”