31 closure, to give Baker time to find a temporary operator. Louis-based Mercy, agreed to keep Fort Scott's emergency doors open an extra month past the hospital's Dec. Knowing that emergency care was crucial, the hospital's owner, St. And many air ambulance companies do not participate in insurance networks, which leads to bills of tens of thousands of dollars. Though air ambulances can transport patients quickly, the dispatch system is not coordinated in many states and regions across the country. Seconds can be crucial when it comes to surviving a heart attack, a stroke, an anaphylactic allergic reaction or a complicated birth. Now, just a week after the ER's closure, her fears were being tested.Ī delay in emergency care can make the difference between life and death. When Mercy Hospital Fort Scott closed at the end of 2018, hospital president Reta Baker had been "absolutely terrified" about the possibility of not having emergency care for a community where she had raised her children and grandchildren and served as chair of the local Chamber of Commerce. I don't know what to say about that."īoth Mercy and Air Methods declined to comment on the case. When Linda Findley sat at her kitchen counter in late May and listened to the 911 tape, she blinked hard: "I didn't know that they could just refuse. Nearly seven minutes passed before one was en route. Then she says she will be "reaching out to" another crew. "My Nevada crew is not available and my Parsons crew has declined," the operator tells Fort Scott's emergency line about a minute after taking the call. "I guess I'll have to have an auction someday," Findley says. She kept two workers on for six weeks after Robert's death to close out active orders. Linda says she doesn't know what she's going to do with the Fort Scott, Kan., business. Linda Findley's husband, Robert, opened Findley Body Repair in 1975. Air ambulance companies are often seen as a key part of the solution. In times of crisis, the local emergency workers can find themselves dealing with changing leadership, budgets and questions about where to take patients.
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Robert Findley needed specialized neurological care and the closest available center was located 90 miles north in Kansas City, Mo.Īfter rural hospitals like the one in Fort Scott close, one of the thorniest dilemmas communities face is how to provide emergency care, particularly for patients who require specialized expertise. When the Fort Scott, Kan., paramedics arrived, they suspected he had an intracerebral hemorrhage. He had laughed it off, ate dinner and went to bed. The night before, Findley had fallen on the slick driveway outside his home while checking the mail. They were waiting for a helicopter to land at a helipad just across the icy parking lot next to Mercy Hospital Fort Scott, which closed in December.
Sarah Jane Tribble for Kaiser Health Newsįor more than 30 minutes on a frigid February morning, Robert Findley lay unconscious in the back of an ambulance as paramedics hand-pumped oxygen into his lungs. Mercy Hospital Fort Scott closed in December, leaving Fort Scott Kan., without its longtime provider of emergency medical services.
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