Months after a child died following a medical emergency in Winthrop, Massachusetts, a report found a "taxed" system left no ambulances available to respond.
The report is the result of an investigation from Massachusetts' Office of Emergency Medical Services following the death of a 2-year-old girl on Jan. 26.
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Winthrop Fire Chief Scott Wiley was among those who responded to a Pleasant Street home when the child was in need of medical attention. With no ambulances immediately able to respond, Wiley drove the girl to Massachusetts General Hospital in the back of his SUV as two firefighters performed CPR.
The child was pronounced dead at the hospital.
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Winthrop contracts its ambulance service with Action Ambulance, which provides two ambulances in town. Both ambulances were already helping other people when they received another desperate call for help.
The closest was at Melrose-Wakefield Hospital, which is at least 20 minutes away.
The state’s investigation found:
- Action Ambulance followed the correct policies and procedures
- Action Ambulance dispatchers called for mutual aid multiple times
- Members of the Winthrop Fire Department tried to meet up with another ambulance that answered the mutual aid call, but it was too late
The report also says Winthrop and the surrounding 911 systems were "taxed" at the time of the call.
Action Ambulance will continue to review its procedures. It says other agencies are more willing to work together and provide assistance in the wake of this case.
A spokesperson for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health said the EMS industry, like other parts of the health care system, is facing staffing shortages and resource challenges nationwide and in the Bay State.
"It was an obviously deeply traumatic call for all of the individuals who were involved," Wiley said days after the incident. "The two firefighters who were in the back really did an extraordinary job under really difficult circumstances. They continued to provide CPR, and heroic efforts, to try to do everything they could to save a little girl's life, but unfortunately, they weren't able to."
Despite a long career as an emergency responder, the call stands out as a hard one, Wiley said.
"It's one of the most difficult calls I've been on, I've been on for 33 years," he said. "The death of a 2-year-old child is difficult."d at the home of former Winthrop Police Lt. James Feeley, who was arrested last month on child rape charges, though it wasn't clear if there was any connection to him — he remains behind bars.
