By Nancy Peyton Brown, Williamson Daily News
WILLIAMSON, W.Va. — A recurring topic before the Mingo County Commission was discussed again at length during the March 19 meeting — extended ambulance wait times.
This meeting’s discussion centered around the recent death of 41-year-old Chandra Kirk, the wife of Jeff Kirk. Kirk, who serves as Assistant Fire Chief at Kermit Volunteer Fire Department, was in attendance at Tuesday’s meeting along with Chandra’s parents.
Kirk said his wife died enroute to the hospital in a personal vehicle because there was no ambulance available when the 911 call was made for her having chest pain. She suffered from cardiac arrest in the back seat of the car while their 15-year-old daughter performed CPR.
“My wife was 41 years old, never had a health issue in her life,” Kirk said. “Her 15-year-old daughter did CPR on her. I know it’s not your fault, but what we’re asking as a community is, ‘What can you do to help us prevent this from happening again?’”
Emergency Medical Services Coalition Executive Director Chris Hall was in attendance with Jason Smyth, owner of STAT EMS. STAT currently serves as the only ambulance provider for the entirety of Mingo County.
Smyth was called by the commission to address multiple items on the agenda: ambulance response time and availability, the EMS salary enhancement fund and a member of the community who asked to be placed on the agenda to address STAT in relation to fire staff and first responders.
According to Smyth, at any given time there are eight ambulances in the county to respond to calls as well as to transport patients to appointments. Smyth also said he currently has two licensed paramedics and the two work in rotating shifts to have one available at all times.
