Nation wide problem or just tennessee???

[jon_forward]

http://http://www.jems.com/article/news/tennessee-mother-pushes-mutual This just makes no sense to me at all.

[Kathianne]

http://http://www.jems.com/article/news/tennessee-mother-pushes-mutual This just makes no sense to me at all.

I can't get the link to work and can't figure enough out to search for it.

[jon_forward]

I will have to find a better link that will work, sorry

[Little-Acorn]

Tennessee Mother Pushes Mutual Aid Change

Her first attempts to gain legislative support for the idea didn't gain much traction.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A Nashville mother who lost her son in a fatal car crash is campaigning to make sure the nearest ambulance gets the call.

Lori Gregory told The Tennessean newspaper she wonders if sending one of two ambulances that were within three miles of the scene but across a county line would have made a difference when her 18-year-old son was killed in a traffic crash May 30.

Ambulances sent to an emergency might not be the ones stationed closest to the need, especially if they have to cross a county line.

A Metro Nashville Fire Department engine with trained first responders arrived within six minutes of the 911 call on May 30 when J.R. Ballentine, Gregory's son, and 21-year-old Shawna Edmundson died in a two-vehicle crash near the Davidson-Robertson County line, but a call log showed ambulances arrived between 10 and 15 minutes later.

"I just firmly feel all of us deserve the closest medical attention we can get," Gregory said. "It doesn't matter whose county's name is on the side."

Her first attempts to gain legislative support for the idea didn't gain much traction.

State Rep. Joshua Evans, R-Greenbrier, said he spoke with Gregory, but told her the issue is not one that should be handled by the state.

[DragonStryk72]

Actually, I tend to agree with the Mom in this instance. Having done first aid through Scouts, and later on the crew of my ship in the Navy, minutes matter. I understand the idea of having counties and such for organizational purposes, but for those cases along the border, it should go to the closer one.

[KitchenKitten99]

Must just be Tennessee...

Here the nearest ambulance/rescue team (can be police, fire, etc) responds. If an EMT/ambulance is a bit far away (as in rural areas), the other trained professionals will respond and assess the situation first. Most of the ambulances here are directly operated (and usually owned) by the hospitals themselves, though in some part subsidized by the counties (and state) I believe. I believe how a 911 call operates here is that there are several 'zones' the state and metro are split into, and they relay to the ambulances of the zone the emergency is in.

I am not 100% sure how it all works, but it is always the closest team that responds.