FROM STAFF REPORTS

Iredell County Manager Beth Mull issued a statement Wednesday defending the work of the Emergency Communications Department staff and EMS personnel in the wake of recent criticism published on social media. 

“Over the past several weeks some social media posts have contained inaccurate information intended to defame a county department and erode the public’s trust in the individuals that have dedicated their careers to protect and serve the citizens of Iredell County,” Mull said in the statement.

In a Facebook post earlier Wednesday, Iredell Firewire called on county residents to demand a change in leadership at ECOM following the department’s handling of a crash resulting in a patient being pinned inside a vehicle at the eastbound weigh station on Interstate 40.

Firewire founder Dan Gitro called out Mull, senior county administrators and county commissioners in the post:

“The time has come to act! This has been brought to your attention dozens and dozens of times. Stop hiding the fact that we have an ISSUE in our communications center! When are you going to take this seriously? When ECOM drops the ball on your family member? Will you even know about it unless the Iredell Firewire calls it out? Enough is enough!”

Iredell Firewire has more than 71,000 followers, several of whom added their own complaints about ECOM to Gitro’s post on Wednesday.

In the statement released Wednesday afternoon, the county manager sought to set the record straight about ECOM’s work on two calls recently highlighted by Iredell Firewire.

South Iredell Fire-Rescue Call at Highway 152 and Unity Church Road

Iredell Firewire reported that Iredell County ECOM would not relay information over the radio to South Iredell and requested South Iredell’s Chief, who was responding lights and sirens to the scene, to call in by phone to relay information about the call.

County’s Response: This was not Iredell County ECOM’s call. It was a call dispatched by Rowan County ECOM. Rowan County ECOM asked Iredell County ECOM to send the Sheriff’s Office (no one else) to assist, which they did. Iredell County dispatchers noticed on the computerized map that South Iredell Engine 3 was headed to the vicinity of the call, and they tried to warn them of the incident ahead by radioing them three times on the main dispatch channel. On the third attempt, the Chief answered the radio for Engine 3. The dispatcher asked the Chief to call dispatch for further information. Iredell County ECOM had no awareness that Rowan County ECOM dispatched South Iredell Fire-Rescue to the call. They were simply trying to warn Engine 3 of the incident they were driving into.

Pin-in accident at the I-40 weigh station

Iredell Firewire reported that Iredell County ECOM failed to initially send an EMS supervisor to the call and, as a result, RSI (Rapid Sequence Intubation) could not be performed without the supervisor on scene because Iredell County is only staffing one paramedic on an ambulance now and patient care was hindered.

County’s Response: The ambulance that responded had three individuals on it: one paramedic, one provisional paramedic, and one EMT. According to the EMS system plan, which is approved by the State of North Carolina, a provisional paramedic that is partnered with a paramedic, serves as two paramedics. This means that no patient care was hindered by the supervisor’s delayed response. The supervisor arrived on the scene 5-7 minutes before the patient was removed from the vehicle. Further, Iredell County has not decided to remove two paramedics from the ambulances; however, EMS has added a Third Man EMT Program to assist with covering vacancies and staff time off due to vacation and sickness. As a result of this Third Man Program, EMS has added the dispatching of supervisors to major incidents. Again, patient care was not hindered in any way on this call.

“Iredell County is committed to providing quality services to all County citizens,” Mull said. “We have amazing public safety personnel and first responders that have dedicated their careers to protect and serve you.”