Holding out for a hero

Editors note: This story is part one of a six-part series on how the EMS crisis is effecting local communities in southeast Iowa.

Deb Seale is positive she still has a daughter because Washington County still has an ambulance service.

Early in 2019, her daughter, Amanda, was home with her toddler when she began having trouble breathing. Being asthmatic, she knew she needed to act quickly and dialed 911.

'They ended up saving her life (because) they used the paddles on her four times to shock her heart and got her into the hospital where she needed to be,” Seale said.

It was a cold that triggered Seale's asthma, which then ended up in her lungs and caused an infection on her heart. By the time the ambulance was able to get to her daughter, her heart was beating so fast it was skipping beats. Seale said the personnel were able to shock her heart back into rhythm, effectively saving her life.

In Iowa, emergency medical services (EMS) are not deemed essential services by the state, meaning the county is not required to offer them. Washington County currently has a contract with Washington County Ambulance, a privately owned company, until June 30, 2020. Director Richard Young has announced he will retire after that date, leaving the county to search for alternative options for coverage. Recently, the Washington County Board of Supervisors has announced the county will take over the service and is taking steps to form a department.

Seale said it is imperative the service still exists in Washington County. She feels that had the ambulance not arrived so quickly, her daughter would no longer be alive and her granddaughter without a mother. She said her daughter lived in the city, so she would have been able to get to her quickly, but she would not have had the equipment needed.

'If you're a parent and your child's in trouble, it doesn't matter how much training you have, it goes out the window. If you scrape a knee, you know what to do but if it's the heart or breathing, you don't. They saved her life,” she said.

Seale knows this well, having to have used the ambulance service herself a few times. In 2010 she was at home in Wellman recovering form neck surgery. Her husband was at work and she was home with their two daughters, ages 13 and 14.

She began to have a reaction to the medication she was given and had to call for help. Because her daughters were not old enough to drive and she lived in the country, there were no neighbors around to help. From Wellman, the drive to the closest hospital is at least 30 minutes, she said, so when the Washington County Ambulance crew arrived, she was instantly relieved.

Seale said the entire team was professional and eased her mind on the drive. After receiving nitroglycerin she was in the ambulance and on her way to the hospital. She said

With the future of EMS service across the nation in jeopardy, Seale said she would like to encourage everyone to support saving the service in their area at all costs. For tax payers who are concerned about paying more, Seale said that is just par for the course if this service is going to continue to exist.

She said she would be willing to pay more to see it stay and encourages others to think about why it's so important. She said she would also like to see the county look at the budget and find a way to make preserving the service possible to help protect citizens in the future.

'Without this, how many people face the death of a loved one?” she said.

She said cellphones only help so much in a true emergency and having someone that is trained and qualified to respond quickly is essential.

'I think if we don't do it we're going back into the Dark Ages because if there's an accident, how many people will die unnecessarily in this county?” she said.

She said knowing her granddaughter could possibly grow up without it makes her nervous for the future. Kids tend to be more accident prone, she said and especially with flu season on it's way, everyone from infants to the elderly will be effected.

'You never know when you're going to need it and maybe for years you won't need it,” she said. 'But then comes the day when all of a sudden something happens to someone you know or to you. To me, if we don't have it, we're condemning ourselves.”