PEOTONE – Fire officials are apologized Monday morning after a post last Saturday involving a one month old girl’s death struck a negative cord with some residents.
In the now deleted Facebook entry, Peotone Fire Protection District wrote a detailed update on the specific call in question, describing inconsistencies related to part-time scheduling.
“Upon arrival, crews found a one-month-old not breathing and had no pulse. The crews worked feverishly, providing ALS care to save this little girl. The crews worked seamlessly together because of standardized EMS protocols, equipment, and apparatus. While all the crews were working to save a little girl’s life, the Peotone Station was covered by a crew to provide emergency response coverage in the event of a second incident. Despite the best efforts of paramedics, the little girl did not l survive. Our hearts break that we were not able to save her life and we support the family that is grieving a tragic loss today.” Peotone Fire Protection District said in the since retracted post.
“This case illustrates a larger point about the kind of fire and rescue service everyone deserves. Bottom line: The Peotone District was short on paramedics yesterday due to ongoing personnel challenges. Manhattan provided paramedics to Peotone to ensure adequate coverage.”
The update was a subtle jab at voters who, by a narrow margin, did not support a consolidation of the Peotone and Manhattan Fire Districts in June. The consolidation would have benefited a staffing situation as described by the District Friday.
“On Saturday, we posted information here to illustrate a point about the very serious staffing challenges we face every day. In making that point, we discussed a very recent case involving the tragic loss of a little baby girl. That incident affected us deeply, as you would expect. As we said Saturday, our hearts break that we were not able to do more for her and we support the family that is grieving such a profound and tragic loss.” the Peotone Fire Board of Trustees wrote Monday morning in a statement.
“Many of you let us know that you took offense to our linking this horrible loss to the larger problems we are facing as a District. We listened to those voices and took the post down. It was never our intent to mention the incident in a way that offended others and for that we apologize.”
You can read the original entry below.
