The death of a 2-year-old girl has raised questions about impacts of staffing problems on the emergency response industry.
As Massachusetts investigates why no ambulances were available to transport a child who died after an apparent medical emergency, Winthrop's fire chief spoke Monday about the efforts to rescue her.
Chief Scott Wiley of the Winthrop Fire Department was among those who responded to a Pleasant Street home Friday morning. He drove the 2-year-old girl to Massachusetts General Hospital in the back of his SUV.
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"It was an obviously deeply traumatic call for all of the individuals who were involved," Wiley said Monday. "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.
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"It's one of the most difficult calls I've been on, I've been on for 33 years," Wiley said. "The death of a 2-year-old child is difficult."
The toddler's death has raised questions about the resources available to first responders. The closest ambulance available was 20 minutes away, and Wiley said at the time he could get the child to the hospital faster.
The Massachusetts Office of Emergency Medical Services, which oversees all EMS resources in the state, is investigating the incident, police said Monday. NBC10 Boston has reached out to the office for comment.
The state Department of Public Health also confirmed it has received a serious incident report from Action Ambulance Service, the company contracted by Winthrop — a requirement in serious incidents, which include undue delay of treatment or transportation.
"The recent death of a 2-year-old Winthrop child is heartbreaking, and our thoughts are with her grieving family during this difficult time. Action Ambulance has submitted a serious incident report to the Department of Public Health. The Department is awaiting the ambulance service’s thorough investigation report and plan of correction," a DPH spokesperson said in a statement.
Wiley said Monday that he stands by the ambulance company's record.
"The statistics will bear out that Action Ambulance, 99% of the time, arrives within allotted timeframe," he said. "There is a metric that's used for performance standards; they meet that standard 99% of the time, and the 1% that they don't is outside of their control."
He said the town responds to upwards of 3,000 medical calls a year. Friday morning, there were calls for ambulance transports at 9:56 and 10 a.m., with the Pleasant Street call coming in 20-25 minutes later.
He also pointed to widespread staffing problems across EMS.
"It's not just a local problem, it's not even a regional problem, this is a national problem," he said. "The EMS problem is nationwide."
And even though it's unfortunate an ambulance was not available, Wiley said it's important to recognize that a more efficient response to an emergency does not ensure it won't end in tragedy.
"We know if we had more ambulances available in the queue, so to speak, that we may have had an ambulance here. But any talk about how 'If an ambulance were available, the outcome might have been different,' is purely speculative and probably wouldn't have changed anything," he said.
Limited details have been released about what led to the child's death. The Suffolk County District Attorney's Office said Friday the evidence does not suggest foul play. State police later added that the child had an illness in recent days and was at home with her mother, according to a preliminary investigation.
Sources told the NBC10 Boston Investigators the incident happened 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.
