By CHRIS LINDAHL
@cmlindahl
Daily Hampshire Gazette
SOUTHAMPTON — The Southampton Fire Department has been forced to halt some of its ambulance services after state inspectors discovered paramedics have not been following proper drug record-keeping procedures.
The Fire Department will not be allowed to operate paramedic-level ambulance services until staff is retrained in the coming weeks, following an inspection performed Thursday by the state Department of Public Health’s Office of Emergency Medical Services, according to Select Board member Charles J. Kaniecki.
In the meantime, the department will continue to operate a basic-level ambulance service that is licensed to provide first aid, but not to administer drugs or perform advanced medical procedures, Kaniecki said.
Emergency calls requiring a paramedic will generate a simultaneous response from a basic-level ambulance from Southampton and a paramedic-level one from a surrounding community, he said.
Town officials expect the training to be completed by June 10.
Fire Chief John Workman “is already starting to track down trainers to educate the staff on proper record-keeping,” Kaniecki said.
Reached by telephone Thursday, Workman said questions about the inspection should be directed to Kaniecki.
The Select Board was alerted to a potential problem with the Fire Department’s drug-management practices earlier this month by one of the town’s deputy fire chiefs. That deputy, whose name Kaniecki said he could not remember, then asked the board to place him on a voluntary three-month leave of absence, he said.
“That prompted the selectmen to turn the files over to the Police Department because we were dealing with narcotics,” Kaniecki added.
The department employs Richard Fasoli and Kyle Miltimore as deputy chiefs, according to its website. Neither could be reached for comment Thursday.
During the investigation, Southampton Police were in contact with officials from Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, which is affiliated with the Southampton Fire Department.
Paramedics are “the extended arm of the physician on call at the ER,” Kaniecki said. “Paramedics can’t administer drugs unless a doctor authorizes it.”
Hospital officials could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Town officials were told by the Office of Emergency Medical Services earlier this week that it would be coming to inspect the Fire Department’s ambulances. Kaniecki said he did not know who alerted the state to the problem.
On Thursday, the state investigation revealed no evidence that paramedics had been violating proper drug administering procedures, nor were any drugs believed to be missing, Kaniecki said.
Paramedics had failed to keep complete records of drugs that were administered in the ambulance. They are required to complete paperwork at the fire station after returning from dropping a patient off at the hospital, Kaniecki said.
After paramedics are retrained on drug record-keeping procedures, Cooley Dickinson and the state must approve the department’s return to paramedic-level ambulance service, he said.
The state inspection is the latest incident in a string of controversies afflicting the Southampton Fire Department.
A resident expressed concern in April after a Westfield ambulance, not one from Southampton, responded to a 911 call for his father, who was experiencing chest pains, about 15 minutes after the call was made.
Workman said the call was handled according to protocol. He added that the department must sometimes rely on mutual aid because firefighters respond to calls from their homes on a standby basis during the evening and overnight hours. As a solution, he has proposed to add a second shift at the fire station.
Town Meeting voters earlier this month advanced a $130,000 Proposition 2½ override that, if approved at a July 9 special town election, would expand fire station coverage and, according to Workman, help the department complete its move to a full paramedic-level ambulance service.
The move was opposed by resident Mark Theroux, who was a lieutenant in the Fire Department until April. He said he considered the second shift an “unneeded expense.” “I would say that with better management, the shifts could be covered at night and it’s just not needed,” Theroux told the gathering.
Kaniecki says the Fire Department is in a period of “evolution” that will result in a positive outcome after the paramedic-level service is restored.
“We’re going to have these growing pains,” he said.
Chris Lindahl can be reached at [email protected].
