Hall Ambulance Unable to Come for Injured Woman

  • As snow falls, Suellyn L'Dera thanked Suzy Ray-Goulart of the Pine Mountain Club Security Patrol for using a PMC pickup to take the injured woman to meet Hall Ambulance, which refused to come into Pine Mountain Thursday, Jan. 25.

    As snow falls, Suellyn L'Dera thanked Suzy Ray-Goulart of the Pine Mountain Club Security Patrol for using a PMC pickup to take the injured woman to meet Hall Ambulance, which refused to come into Pine Mountain Thursday, Jan. 25.

Hours Elapse between 911 Call and Hospital Care For Pine Mountain Resident

By Patric Hedlund

On Sunday, Feb. 3 Suellyn L’Dera met the woman who came to her aid after a Hall Ambulance driver told Kern County firefighters that he could not drive beyond the Mil Potrero "Y" in response to an emergency dispatch. As L’Dera recovers, she vividly recalls the 10:30 p.m. call to 911 on Thursday, Jan. 24.

Kern County Fire Department (KCFD) received the call for a traumatic injury on Polar Way in Pine Mountain. This call was categorized as a "3-B-1" which means an animal bite or attack, possibly in a dangerous body area. The prescribed emergency response is a "Code 3 (lights and siren) ambulance…" according to Ross Elliott, director of Kern County’s Emergency Medical Services Department.

As witnesses recall, L’Dera was bleeding profusely from the nose and mouth. L’Dera says an aging family dog was startled from sleep and attacked her. "She’s not vicious, she was scared. She’s very loving," the family says with concern.

L’Dera recalls that firefighters responded quickly. They were in radio communication with the Hall Ambulance driver. When the Hall driver would not come, "The [firefighters] wouldn’t give up, they contacted Pine Mountain Patrol," L’Dera said.

Pine Mountain Patrol officer Patrice Stimpson coordinated between Senior Officer Suzy Ray-Goulart, who was on plow duty that night, and Houston Corbell, who was driving a larger plow for the association’s roads.

Corbell plowed Kern County’s Mil Potrero Highway through Pine Mountain, then continued all the way up to the Mil Potrero "Y" where the ambulance was waiting. But the driver did not feel he could take the ambulance down. At the same time, Suzy Ray-Goulart plowed the street to L’Deras’ home.

L’Dera has a heart condition, for which she takes medication. Without a paramedic with the firefighters to monitor her situation, the potential for a heart complication from the trauma of the injury was another concern. Weather conditions made helicopter transport impossible.

"The firemen said they are prohibited by law from making medical transports," L’Dera said. So when radio communications confirmed the ambulance was not going to come into the valley, Ray-Goulart bundled the injured woman into her pickup truck.

"It was a small truck; my husband…he felt so bad that he couldn’t come with us," L’Dera recalls. Suzy Ray-Goulart said she did not use the plow, she just drove the truck up the road to the waiting ambulance. Hall personnel then L’Dera through the remaining mountain roads out to the Grapevine. At the parking lot of the Denny’s restaurant Hall personnel transferred her gurney into a third vehicle, another Hall Ambulance Service truck.

L’Dera recalls that she finally arrived at South West Mercy Hospital "by about 2:30 in the morning," where she saw a cardiologist and had stitches in her nose and treatment for the bites on her face.

L’Dera’s husband has written a letter to Supervisor Ray Watson, Kern County Roads Department and Bakersfield Mayor Harvey Hall, owner of the ambulance company, to ask why the ambulance did not, or could not, respond that night in the manner prescribed for such an injury. He has distributed the letter widely throughout the Mountain Communities via email.

On June 23, 2005, several press releases were issued by Hall Ambulance Service to announce its purchase of a four-wheel drive ambulance with "automatic chains" for snow and ice conditions.

Later, in 2007, an additional press release announced that the ambulances had been further equipped for snow conditions in a custom re-design at a shop in Red Bluff, California.

When Harvey Hall closed a weekend ambulance station in Pine Mountain in the fall of 2007, Supervisor Ray Watson complained to a Bakersfield newspaper that the Pine Mountain community was ‘inhospitable’ to Hall and ungrateful for money spent (in part) on ambulances equipped to serve in the mountain’s winter conditions.

This reporter sent an email to Mark Corum, manager of the public and media relations division of Hall Ambulance Service on February 5, asking about Hall’s statements that the company is now equipped to navigate this exclusive service area competently year around. "The community was told that the company had four-wheel-drive vehicles equipped with appropriate snow tires/snow chain mechanisms. Is this true?" we asked.

Corum replied: "I will be sending you a prepared statement later today." No statement was received by press time late Wednesday, Feb. 6. Several telephone and email messages have been unanswered.

Meanwhile, Kern County’s "watchdog" Emergency Medical Services Department has been asked questions about the reason for the transfer of the patient in the Denny’s parking lot, and about the discrepancy between public statements and the ambulance company’s actual ability to navigate on icy roads.

Standard four-wheel drive commercial vehicles equipped with snow tires, such as a Jeep Cherokee, were traveling Mil Potrero Highway in the same conditions at about the same time as this incident. We asked about the training received by ambulance drivers assigned to serve snow-prone areas such as this.

EMS Director Ross Elliott wrote back a detailed summary of the incident.

"The ambulance is 4×4 with snow chains," he confirmed. "There was reportedly one-foot of snow on the ground. While en route, Hall notified KCFD that estimated arrival of the ambulance to PMC was one hour and requested that Fire respond to the address."

Elliott continues: "The ambulance arrived at the "Y" at 11:17 p.m. The ambulance started on Mil Potrero, but the road had not been plowed. The ambulance could not make any progress at the first incline (no traction-all four wheels spinning). Hall notified KCFD of inability to navigate the road; attempting to turn around 11:19 p.m. Hall coordinating with KCFD sought options for getting the patient transported. Hall also coordinated with County Roads, Sheriff, and PMCPOA to get Mil Potrero plowed/ sanded so ambulance could proceed to PMC….The patient was transferred to a two-wheel-drive ambulance at the bottom of the grapevine. This enabled the 4×4 ambulance to return to Frazier Park rather than take the 4×4 resource out of service for two or more hours in Bakersfield."

Elliott’s account regarding the time of arrival at the hospital differs with Suellyn L’Dera’s memory. He says, "Patient arrived at Mercy Southwest hospital at 1:48 a.m.," which is about three hours after the 911 call.

Elliott’s report concludes with a commendation for Hall and several agencies: "The long response time and inability of the ambulance to reach the scene was a result of the extreme weather conditions and impassable roadways. This is not a failure of any of the emergency response organizations.

"I find it difficult to hold any individual or organization at fault for not doing all they could do to perform their duties. In fact, the four organizations involved (Kern County Fire, Hall Ambulance, Kern County Sheriff and PMCPOA) should all be congratulated in persevering and using creativity in providing care to this patient in extreme adverse conditions. There was a high degree of coordination among these people to provide the best possible care.

The solution implemented to get this patient to the hospital is evidence of the dedication of the participants in this event."

Suellyn L’Dera has been back to the doctor several times, and anticipates seeing a plastic surgeon. She gave a fond ‘thank you’ and a hug to Suzie Ray-Goulart on Sunday.

Several members of the community have asked her to come to the Town Hall forum on Friday, Feb. 8.

Late Breaking News: Go to /atf.php?sid=2404&current_edition=2008-02-08 to see that forum and hear the questions asked by the community of District 4 Supervisor Ray Watson and candidates for his seat.

This is part of the February 08, 2008 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

Have an opinion on this matter? We'd like to hear from you.