Virginia

Volunteer firefighters suspended for transporting unresponsive toddler

By Shawn Boburg March 6 at 5:56 PM

Volunteer firefighter Capt. James Kelley stood on the side of the highway in Stafford County, cradling the limp, blue body of an 18-month-old girl whose father had called 911 minutes earlier to report she was having a seizure in the car.

Kelley, who was first to arrive on the scene, had a decision to make: wait an unknown amount of time for medics, or load the unresponsive toddler into the back of the firetruck and take her to the hospital.

Kelley’s choice — to transport the girl in the back seat of the firetruck — has won him the gratitude of the toddler’s family and the praise of colleagues but has resulted in Stafford County officials suspending him and another volunteer firefighter in Fredericksburg.

Kelley, a D.C. firefighter who is also a member of the Falmouth Volunteer Fire Department in Fredericksburg, said he was aware of rules that prohibit using a firetruck to transport someone in medical need, but he decided to disregard them in this case.

“I feel comfortable with the decision,” Kelley said Sunday.

So does the chief of the volunteer firefighting unit in Falmouth.

“This is one of those situations where actions outweigh policy,” Chief Christopher Smith said.

But Stafford County officials say they are reviewing the incident as a “potential regulatory compliance issue,” while Kelley and fellow volunteer firefighter Sgt. Virgil Bloom remain suspended. A spokesman declined to comment Sunday on the specifics.

The toddler, Lena, is in good health, according to her father, David Nunamaker, who said Kelley and Bloom “simply had the best interests of our daughter’s care in mind.”

He was surprised, he said, to read news of the suspensions this weekend, prompting him to issue a lengthy statement.

“My wife and I feel terrible for the fallout that has happened to these two gentlemen,” he said. “The actions of these men represent a dedication to their mission, and a deep concern of doing what is best for the people they are serving. In our eyes they are heroes.”

Kelley, a 35-year-old father of a teenager, provided a detailed account Sunday of what led to his quick decision Feb. 27 , saying there were communication breakdowns that led to uncertainty about when an ambulance would arrive.

The call came in just after 11 a.m. on Feb. 27 and Kelley and Bloom jumped in the fire engine. On the way, Kelley said he asked the closest responding ambulance to report its exact location. “Southbound on Route 1,” the medic replied. That description was vague, Kelley said.

He knew that the same ambulance had been on a previous call in the northern part of the county, he said, meaning it could be as far as eight or nine miles away. Kelley and Bloom were at the scene in three minutes.

He saw David Nunamaker standing on the shoulder of the road next to his car. He was panicking, Kelley said. “She changed colors,” he told Kelley as he approached. Nunamaker pushed Lena into Kelley’s arms. She was unresponsive.

“She had nothing going on really,” Kelley said. Her head was tilted back over one of Kelley’s arms while her legs dangled lifelessly over his other arm.

Nunamaker, of Fredericksburg, told Kelley that they had been driving — running errands, he would later clarify — when Lena began twitching, vomiting and having seizures. Nunamaker’s teenage daughter was also in the car at the time.

Kelley considered the medics’ potential response time, given the unclear location description. He also considered that it would take him three minutes to get to the closest hospital.

“It was a no-brainer,” he said.

He put Lena in a row of rear-facing bucket seats in the rear of the truck, bunching piles of coats on either side of her and strapping a seat belt around her. He put an oxygen mask over her mouth and nose. He stood next to her as the truck rumbled away, whispering “Come on, baby, come on, Lena,” he said.

During the short ride, he said, her color came back and her right eye began to focus on him. But the left side of her face and body remained motionless.

On the way, an ambulance radioed the firetruck, asking to meet it so it could transfer Lena to the ambulance. But the proposed meeting spot would have taken the firetruck away from the hospital, Kelley said, so he declined to stop.

Nunamaker said in the statement that he arrived at the hospital a few minutes after the firetruck.

“When I arrived, my daughter was being treated in the emergency room,” he said. “She was having another seizure.”

Kelley said that the left side of Lena’s body was paralyzed for five hours before she returned to normal. He said that Nunamaker later told him that doctors had determined the seizure was caused by a fever. Nunamaker said neurologists at the hospital told him that response times are “extremely important”
when reacting to seizures.

Lena was at home Sunday, “doing well” and “acting like nothing ever happened,”


http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/volunteer-firefighters-suspended-for-transporting-toddler-instead-of-waiting-for-ambulance/2016/03/06/4a5d8bc6-e3cc-11e5-a6f3-21ccdbc5f74e_story.html/

Suspension?

The firefighter's actions, saved the life of a child.



He deserves praise, for a job well done!

Absolutely,

The Suspension ... it must of been one of those moments when you feel like you must living in the Twilight Zone.

I agree the guys did the right thing and saved a life. The situation was a judgement call and it worked.

On the other hand the regulations have been made this way to protect the liability of a city or county municipality. I can tell you what they will tell these guys. "In this case your gamble won out. If it had not, the greatfull parents would be suing the volunteer fire department causing it to fold. That's why they were suspended. The municipality will tell them that they cannot be trusted to follow the established procedures that keep the department in place. Then the desision will be demotion and transfer or termination. It can happen to any cop, fireman or medic.
I agree with what they did. I belive when they made their desicion, they knew the risk to their careers. Some would have followed procedure.
Glad to hear of a story were they damned the consequences in favor of saving a young girls life.

If I were a resident of that county,
I'd be pushing a petition for a recall election
of those "officials".

The firefighter saved a life.

So basically it's like a case where a cop shoots somebody and they investigate to see if it was warranted.
During investigation, the cop is suspended or put on administrative duty, even if it was absolutely clear that it's self defense.

"News at 11! Bureaucrats follow policy and do their job!"

That's pretty much the story.

Great manipulation so people think those mean nasty officials are doing something wrong and being punitive towards those poor victim heroic firefighters.


Stay tuned (keep paying subscription fees, watching advertisement, or provide eyeballs) for next weeks story where those mean nasty judges sequester some poor poor jury member victims for a week while the real criminal is on trial! Gasp!
How can they treat those courageous patriots who show up to do their civic duty, standing up against evil criminals, so horribly by not allowing them to go home and see their children?!
Their children are suffering!
One child is quoted as saying "I just want my mommy to come home. She's been gone too wong."
Oh the humanity!