Back in March, Kenya Barona passed away from health complications, but her family said that she could have been saved if the ambulance had arrived on time. They raised funds to donate to BERT to use for training of the EMTs, but tonight, there is a similar story with a woman who, luckily, is alive.
Yesterday, 42-year-old Nakisha Usher said that due to her lupus and diabetes, her sugar spiked to over 500.
She was on the verge of passing out from not being able to breathe and was in extreme pain.
So she did what anyone would do: call the ambulance. But the ambulance never came because Usher claims they cared more about the $20 fee than saving her life. She explained to us today that she reportedly decided to catch a cab instead because of the attitude of the BERT dispatcher, a move which could have cost her life since her doctor told her she was "lucky" to have reached the hospital when she did.
Nakisha Usher, Complainant
"I was in my bed not feeling well, so I drank one Prednisone, because I wasn't feeling good like a couple minutes after that I felt drunk, I felt high, I couldn't see - I started to see blurred visions and I had pain in my stomach and so by that I said I will get up. When I got up, I stumbled back, so I told my cousin, her name is Fay Usher living in Georgeville, I texted my mom Irene Usher living in Saint Mathews and they texted me back and said they were checking up on
me and she said cuz you want me to call cousin Joe and I said okay, or you want I call Bert Ambulance. So I said okay call Bert Ambulance for me. So, she called her kids father Paul Jones and ask him to come and check on me and so he came, because we had already called Bert Ambulance 911 and it was in a space of minutes, we got the call and he start to call and talk with them on the phone. I explained to him what happened and I told him I couldn't breathe. When I said I couldn't breathe and I had pain in my stomach, instantly he hollered you have covid and I said no and then he said with whom I got in contact with and I said no one, because I barely get visitors because my family they know my condition, so we do facebook and what's not as communication and the guy said you have $20, and so I said really, you are questioning me about $20. He said if you don't have $20 I can't come for you, we can't deal with you. I started to cry because I couldn't breathe, I felt like I couldn't take it anymore, this is the worse experience I ever have and so he continue talking to guy and tell him where to come. He went on the street and tell them where to come and he back and said miss do you have the $20, if you don't have the $20 you have to pay a fee, so we can't come for you. I told him no problem I will take a taxi and he said okay then take a taxi."
"They say Bert Ambulance is supposed to assist people, no matter what and just for $20 they would have let me die. That is not fair. If somebody doesn't have money or a poor person don't have money to get to hospital, they will die. We know that the ambulance they don't run on water and you have to pay the staff, so by that it's very hard, because if somebody doesn't have a dime then how will they get to the hospital if they are on their last. I want they change it and change their attitude towards people, because this is not right."
However, the executive director of BERT, Andre Carillo, is denying these claims. According to his investigation, BERT received the call from the 911 at 4:45 and called Usher back to get her information. It was then that they told her the ambulance would be on its way and advised her that there was a fee.
Carillo's statement then says, quote, "BERT refutes the allegation that the EMT Dispatcher was dismissive and denied her service based on a fee, this statement is absolutely untrue. In this case the ambulance was ready to be dispatched, however the patient indicated on the phone that the service was not required and that she would get a taxi."
Carillo explained further that even if patients can't pay, BERT still provides their service. He specified that more than 50% of calls go unpaid.
