By Lawrence Emerson
FauquierNow.com Editor
His 42-year-old brother suffered heart damage and almost died before dawn on Friday, Feb. 10.
Beau Beasley, a veteran firefighter/medic, says Fauquier’s board of supervisors could and should prevent such life-threatening situations.
“Do you think the people of this county know that if they dial 9-1-1, it will take about the same time as to get a pizza?” Mr. Beasley said during last Thursday’s supervisors’ meeting.
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Fauquier has only three professional medic units to cover the entire county after 7 p.m., Mr. Beasley noted.
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He has launched a one-man campaign to convince the board that it must provide funding for more paid firefighter/medics to help cover Fauquier.
Meanwhile, the county’s volunteer fire and rescue chiefs have recommended hiring 22 more professionals for the same reason. Fauquier already employs 41 firefighter/medics to supplement the volunteer system.
Mr. Beasley, who lives near Vint Hill and works as a captain in Fairfax County fire and rescue, recounted the dramatic events of Feb. 10 for the supervisors and gave them supporting documents.
After his sister-in-law called 9-1-1 at 4:10 a.m., it took 26 minutes for a New Baltimore Volunteer Fire & Rescue ambulance, with two emergency medical technicians aboard, to reach the home on Eckert Court, Mr. Beasley said.
Mr. Beasley, who lives on the same street, got there just minutes after his sister-in-law’s call.
The first volunteer, a medic, responding from home in a Company 10 vehicle, arrived “within eight or nine minutes” of the call, Mr. Beasley said.
But, that volunteer had only “a pair of (latex) gloves and a portable radio” — no drugs or medical equipment, he added.
Meanwhile, the Company 10 ambulance — with no GPS device — took a wrong turn, got caught in a cul-de-sac and had to backtrack.
The two EMTs — with medical supplies and equipment — reached Mr. Beasley’s brother at 4:36 a.m.
After the volunteers couldn’t get an IV started in his brother’s arms, Mr. Beasley started one in his foot, administering a drug that calmed his racing heartbeat.
“A normal, resting heartbeat is 60 to 80 beats a minute . . . at most 160,” Mr. Beasley told the supervisors. “My brother’s resting heartbeat was 193. He had been that way for a half hour . . . . If that continues, eventually the heart collapses . . . .
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“I want to make myself clear, gentlemen. I am not interested in bashing the volunteers . . . . We have three paramedic units for 660 square miles after 7 o’clock (at night) . . . . I don’t blame the board, but the damage to his heart is a direct result of the time it took.”
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“I want to make myself clear, gentlemen. I am not interested in bashing the volunteers . . . . We have three paramedic units for 660 square miles after 7 o’clock (at night) . . . . I don’t blame the board, but the damage to his heart is a direct result of the time it took.”
His brother lives within sight of the Federal Aviation Administration air traffic control center and 4.9 miles from the New Baltimore fire and rescue station, Mr. Beasley noted.
“It took them 26 minutes to get to my brother, and that’s not acceptable. Your primary responsibility is the safety of this county,” he added.
“The NBFD has several active members, but there have been times that we have had staffing shortages,” Company 10 Lt. Sean Polster wrote in a report about the incident. “These needs have been expressed to the county every year over the past several years in letters requesting 24-hour (professional) staff for NBFD. These requests have been repeatedly denied.”
Lt. Polster acknowledged other problems with the response that morning, including:
• Reliance upon an outdated mapbook as the ambulance crew tried to find the fastest route.
• The first responder’s use of a Company 10 vehicle that lacked “appropriate medical equipment.”
• The need for better assessment of volunteers “to ensure they are meeting the job performance requirements.”
Mr. Beasley said gaps in coverage leave the volunteer system “incapable” of meeting needs without more professional help.
“The citizens of Fauquier are playing medical roulette,” he said.
Depending upon where one lives and when one needs help, the response may be great or sorely lacking, he suggested.
For Mr. Beasley, the most recent incident represents his third poor experience with local emergency medical services. His daughter twice has needed help for respiratory attacks, he said.
The first time, three years ago, he raced home from the Reston fire/rescue station and arrived just four minutes after the local ambulance crew, Mr. Beasley explained.
Last year, during another attack, an ambulance arrived without a medic, Mr. Beasley said. He and the attendant loaded his daughter in the vehicle, headed for Fauquier Hospital and met a medic from Warrenton at Broad Run Church Road.
Unless and until things change, he will avoid calling 9-1-1, Mr. Beasley said. “I can get to Fauquier Hospital faster than help can get to me.”
The 28-year professional firefighter/medic added, however, that he doesn’t suggest average citizens avoid calling 9-1-1.
A board of supervisors committee this week received a modified staffing recommendation from the county’s volunteer chiefs. Originally, they sought $1.5 million in fiscal 2013, starting this July 1, to hire 22 more firefighter/medics.
After meeting this week, the chiefs still seek that number of new professionals. However, they have proposed phasing in the hires, which would cost $930,000 in the new fiscal year.
The updated proposal would provide 24-hour professional staffing at the New Baltimore station seven days a week.
Increasing the 97-cent real estate tax rate by a penny would generate slightly more than that.
County Administrator Paul McCulla will release his recommended county budget on Thursday, Feb. 23.
The supervisors will work on the budget over the next month, with adoption planned for late March.
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