Ashford's People's Life and Medical Are Not Important

Rickey Stokes

Viewed: 6427

Posted by: RStokes
thehoustonnewspaper@yahoo.com
334-790-1729
Date: Dec 10 2009 5:43 PM

ASHFORD:    Attention to the people of Ashford and on the eastside of Houston County

Ashford Mayor Rusty Burgess has suspended Ray McNeal from work with the City of Ashford. The infraction is not clocking out while making an emergency medical call to a citizen.

Mayor Burgess says the 90% of the residents of Ashford support him in making McNeal clock out to make medical emergency calls to the very people Burgess was elected to serve.

Just this past week, a resident of Ashford suffered a major stroke. It took over one hour to get that lady to the hospital. There was no one to make the medical call. A ambulance from CARE finally responded and took the lady to the hospital. The first hour is the most critical.

I cautioned Mayor Burgess that he could have blood on his hands when someone dies because of waiting on an ambulance from Dothan to respond. Burgess said he was 70 years old and could handle it. That 90% of the people of Ashford supported what he was doing.

I have never known of anyone to make an appointment for a heart attack, stroke, car accident or any medical emergency.  Since 90% of the people of Ashford support Mayor Burgess, I trust 90% of the citizens are prepared for death.  When someone stops breathing, if CPR is not initiated in 4 to 6 minutes, odds are greatly diminished. Both ambulance services in Dothan are on the southside near Dothan High School.

Here is how the system works…a Ashford resident dials 9-1-1, the call comes into Houston County Sheriff Communications Center, put into 911, information relayed to Ashford dispatcher, who then pages out Ashford Rescue. McNeal has to make a decision, continue to work on the clock to feed his family or clock out. If the VOLUNTEER crew cannot respond , after 5 minutes  of no response the backup ambulance is dispatched.

Mayor Burgess also was critical that Ashford Rescue has to cover the eastside of Houston County.  He offered no real answer when he was reminded of the resources Dothan Fire Chief Larry Williams sent to Ashford when the child was struck in the woodmill equipment. Chief Williams did not care. Also, what about the volunteers who left their work to help.

I could not believe the Mayor’s response when I reminded him the private business let their employees respond. He said that was private and not the city. I laughed and reminded him…oh someone working for the taxpayer responding to the taxpayer who has a medical emergency…what is more service to the taxpayer then taking care of them in an emergency.

So, I guess the people who do not live in the city limits of Ashford need to bypass Ashford and shop in Dothan. Dothan Fire Chief Larry Williams always treats the fire and medical first…he is interested in saving your lives and property.

NOTE:  For the past 9 years Ray McNeal has been employed with the City of Ashford. He has always made the medical runs on the clock. Not until Mayor Burgess took office was there ever a problem. for over 30 years McNeal has voluntered with Pansey Fire and Ashford Rescue making hundreds of free calls over the years.

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Creative journalism and sensationalism seem to be the theme of your approach to "letting people know the facts". Did you ever really find out when the council meeting was to be held or did you for the sake of ratings fabricate the dates of an already known time for the meeting to be held on the 7th of January due to the holidays. It is my understanding that the mayor sent you a letter about the situation so why did you decide to leave out that information? If breaking the rules for all employees is the way that one would go about doing good then the white part on the top of chicken manure should be callled something different. Do the right thing in this situation. report all the facts or shut up and go home.
I work in the Ashford area and pray if I ever need an emt, Ray McNeal would be available. The Mayor of Ashford should be thankful that someone is willing and qualified to help in a medical emergency. It is my understanding he didn't have a problem with the Ashford R/S and Ray when his sister needed attention. I consider the Mayor a friend and feel as though his personality will not allow him to back down but I would like to see him reconsider his action and put Ray back to work to do just as he was hired to do...Work with the water dept and make EMT runs as needed.
It is true that last week a woman who is a friend of mine suffered a major stroke. However, it should be noted that Ray McNeal was on vacation at the time so I fail to see your connection to the issue of clocking out. It would be interesting to know if Mr. McNeal was at home or in the area at the time of the incident and decided not to show up to prove his point at the risk of furthering my friends injuries. By the way, the stroke victim was discovered slumped over in her still running car and administered to at the scene by none other than Mayor Burgess! Wow, maybe he does care!
I don't live in ashford but i live in a small town and i do know the importance of a voluntary ba sed fire department and rescue squad. How you may ask because i myself am a volunteer fire fighter. And i do not agree with the mayor on what he has done. He needs to take a step back and think what if it were me laying on the floor or on the side of the raod and needed help. Would he be worried about someone clocking out or would he want someone to get there as quick as they coould. Little towns can't rely on bigger city that are 30-60 minutes away because in some cases you don't have that much time. In some cases you have 5 maybe 10 minutes. There is also an alabama state law that protects individuals and there jobs in cases such as this. Re:Act 2006-428. Go to Alabama.gov for more info.
queston? how does rural areas in henery and geneva deal with their volunteer rescues.any rural areas.are they required to clock out if their private,city or county employes.im not a asford citizen and it dont concern me.they need to organize a better system.especially eastern houston county.its 28 miles from dothan to the chattahochee state park.
Answer me this. If Mr. McNeal, with the blessings of the City of Ashford and on their payroll at the time, takes off on an emergency call and has an accident and kills a young mother and child and the husband sues and wins $20 million in a lawsuit. Who will pay the bill?Sounds like Mr. Burgess is looking after the citizens of Ashford pretty well. In today's technological age, why can't Mr. NcNeal clock himself out or use a cell phone to have himself clocked out when necessary? Then he will be on his OWN time and liability will rest with him and the Rescue Squad.I doubt the intelligence of this has been considered by the emotional selfishness of a certain few, including you Mr. Stokes. Think, be honest, and be reasonable! Your name-calling childishness is embarrassing!
That may have been 90% of the votes in 2008.. Someone should take a poll now. There have been many troubling issues with this mayor, since his election. Can a mayor be impeached?
I know for a fact that ashford recue does pay per call. depends on what level of emt you are but i know a medic gets paid $20 per run. ashford rescue is a paid on call service. when you accept a check at the end of the month, no matter what the amount is, you lose your right to call yourself a volunteer. i agree with everyone that says ray is an outstanding idividual, but the entire story is not being told here. there is some truth in the article above but a lot is beig left out. i don't thik %90 of the people agree with whats going on due to them losing a medic but at the same time i think there needs to be further investigation into why he was suspended and let more of the story be told. i dont think the mayor of ashford is the total bad guy in this situation
Funny how people don't know half the story and will write whatever they feel draws the most attention and stirs the most feathers. Funny how this story doesn't have half the truth in it. As a city employee with a surrounding government the continuance of paying a city employee for doing a emergency run is illegal when the rescue squad is not a city run operation. Yes I used the word illegal. It is against the law for the city to pay the employee for the time he has left his job and does a ambulance run. End of story. It is illegal. And yes he does get paid for the runs he does even though he is a volunteer. Funny to know that now. And from my knowledge, he was not told not to do the runs, just to clock out. Sounds pretty reasonable to me!
As a paramedic, I understand the position that Ray and the city both are in. However, if I am working at another job, unless we have an understanding in place, I can't leave that job to make a medical run. Volunteer days are over. People are to busy and the economic is horrible. Most people are doing all they can to make a living and have no time left to volunteer to help others. Ashford, get in the ambulance business and pay a crew to work so you have a crew available 24 hours a day, or get out of the ambulance business and let someone come in and handle it with a paid crew. The ultimate goal is to provide quality patient care in a timely manner. In today's society that means the family wants an ambulance there 5 minutes before they call 911. You can't do that with Volunteers.
ashford rescue paramedics are paid $20 a run!
Do you honestly mean to tell me that as much revenue as Ashford Rescue brings in that they aren't paying McNeal to make ambulance runs? I understand it is a volunteer service, but almost all volunteer services pay their medics SOMETHING to make ambulance runs. I'd like an honest answer to that.
Fellow EMTI know Ray personally & he is a dedicated Parmedic & Fire Fighter. He has left his warm bed many nights to serve the people of Ashford & the county. 90% supposedly suppport the mayor then let them wait for an hour for help while Ray works or sleeps in his nice warm bed. I suspect that the majority of people in Ashford would support him being allowed to stay on the clock to respond to calls, isn't it called "Ashford Rescue Squad"? Ray works for the town of Ashford what is the difference? The rescue squad needs to circulate a petition to REALLY find out how the citizens feel and present the results to the mayor. God help you people in Ashford if you really do support the mayors position, I hope you can get your loved ones in a car or you will wait an hour also for help.
Columbia is about the same way. Couple of years ago my aunt died of a heart attack. She was only in her early 50's. A call was made for an ambulance to come just around the block and my grandparents were told to dial 911. dial 911 so an ambulance could be dispatched to come to Columbia all the way from Dothan. I left my job and followed a Houston County Deputy officer all the way to Columbia from the east side of Dothan. The ambulance did not arrive until after I did. It's unfair for the citizens of these small towns to have to depend on Dothan for an emergancy.
I would say too bad for him if he has an emergency! He better hope there are compassionate and forgiving people there to take care of him!