Virginia Rescue Squad Suspended Twice in One Year

Jun. 1--For the second time this year, the Virginia Department of Health's Office of Emergency Medical Services has suspended Culpeper County Volunteer Rescue Squad's license to operate.

Co. 11 has 30 days to appeal the decision handed down this week by Dr. Robert Stroube, state health commissioner.

In the meantime, paid emergency staff and local volunteer agencies are handling the town rescue squad's calls for service.

Warren Jenkins, captain of operations in the Culpeper Office of Emergency Services, said Thursday that he learned of the suspension late Tuesday night through the dispatch center.

"They had gotten a call from Trish (Trenary, Co. 11 president) saying that they got a letter from the state saying they were suspended and would not be running their calls," Jenkins said.

He said the shutdown would not have an adverse effect on emergency services in Culpeper.

"It's business as usual," Jenkins said.

Dr. Stroube, in his undated letter, cited "the low response rate (of Co. 11) to dispatch calls" and the volunteer board's failure "to take any significant action regarding recruitment, retention and leadership issues" as his reasons for suspending the agency's license.

His findings were based on the report of Dr. Lisa Kaplowitz, deputy commissioner, and the conclusions she reached after conducting an informal fact-finding conference March 6 in the Culpeper VDOT office.

Coincidentally, a Culpeper County paid emergency provider made the original complaint with the state against Co. 11 on March 7, 2006 -- a year before the hearing took place. In the complaint, Mary Hart referenced an incident in February 2006 in which she witnessed Co. 11 volunteers failing to respond to a report of a child choking near Wal-Mart even though they were in the vicinity.

After a series of meetings with Co. 11 representatives and paid staff, the Office of Emergency Medical Services suspended the town rescue squad's license for the first time Jan. 3 "based on non-compliance" with issues raised in an earlier correction order -- again, low response rate and recruitment, retention and leadership issues.

The state reinstated Co. 11's license Feb. 27 and the rescue squad had been answering calls until this week's second suspension.

Trenary and Co. 11 Capt. Matt Halsey could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Co. 11's attorney, Waverly Parker, could not be reached either, but a woman answering the phone in his Stanardsville office said, "He has no comment at this time."

At the March 6 hearing, and in Dr. Kaplowitz's report, a requirement of the Virginia Medical Services Regulations that all emergency providers, "provide service within its primary service area on a 24-hour continuous basis," was repeatedly stressed.

According to Kaplowitz, Co. 11 answered between 16 and 21 percent of calls last year.

At the hearing, Parker said the percentages should be looked at in the context of a 1999 agreement between county medics and volunteers in which each agreed to help the other answer calls.

"We believed we were working hand-in-hand with the county under this agreement answering calls," Trenary said.

Between paid medics and volunteers, 100 percent of calls were being answered, Parker said, claiming that Co. 11's statistics were being misinterpreted.

In her report, Kaplowitz disagreed with the rescue squad's position, repeating the aforementioned regulation for service "on a 24-hour continuous basis." In addition, she said later in the report, "... during the time Culpeper Rescue Squad's agency license was suspended, there was no discernable negative impact on the community."

Thursday afternoon, the ambulance bays at Co. 11's station on North Main Street were sealed shut and the shades drawn. A sign outside announced a June 17 breakfast, and a message, "Volunteers needed!" A single car was parked out back, and a young man, who declined to identify himself, answered the side door in response to the doorbell.