RISON - Superintendent Davy King told the Cleveland County School Board Monday that he met with officials from Emergency Ambulance Service, Inc. (EASI), Cleveland County Sheriff-elect Brad Young and County Judge Don Triplett to discuss a delay in an ambulance response to a recent medical emergency on campus.
On July 21, a player on the Rison Junior High football team experienced a medical emergency at the fieldhouse. King said school personnel called for an ambulance but it took about 20 minutes before it arrived.
In the meantime, he said he coaching staff and the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Department rendered aid until the ambulance arrived. He commended the sheriff’s department and coaching staff for the the medical assistance that they provided as well as the ambulance crew once it arrived. The student was hospitalized before being released on Aug. 5.
However, King said he wanted to investigate what caused the ambulance delay and discovered that the ambulance that is usually stationed about two blocks away from the campus was out of town responding to a call.
King said he called a meeting with EASI, Young and Triplett to discuss the dilemma and see what could be done to prevent a repeat scenario in the future. He said it was a productive meeting, and that Young was going to work out a solution.
Cleveland County has a 0.25 percent sales tax that is used to support the county’s ambulance servic. The county has a contract with EASI to station an ambulance inside the county at Rison. The contract provides EASI with a monthly supplement based on the number of paid calls the ambulance receives during a given month. The higher number of paid calls, the lower the monthly supplement.
Under the agreement, when the local ambulance goes out on a call, EASI will send a second ambulance into the county to be on standby. However, it was discussed during Monday night’s meeting that the back-up ambulance often comes out of Pine Bluff or Warren, and is often parked somewhere…