Ambulance service in hot water after “secret list” is published due to open records request

Crebra EMS is facing legal action due to their “secret list” being published in the local newspaper. Reporter Cy Coates had filed a open records request for emails between various EMTs for a story he was working on. The request did not help the story he was working on, but did create this new one.

The secret list as the Crebra Herald calls it was an excel spreadsheet of residents who abuse EMS by call for an ambulance way to often. These abusers, or so-called frequent flyers, by how often they called 911 and what their medical needs were. In addition the EMTs were documenting the changes in the stories these frequent flyer told about medical conditions.

Reporter Cy Coates told us. “Rumors have been going around that local ambulance drivers are engaged in a game of taking naughty photos and emailing them to co-workers on duty using the MDC in their rig. I filed my request to see if I could get proof of this. I wanted all emails sent between ambulance drivers sent between the MDCs. Unfortunately the rumors are untrue or they are not using their work email on the MDC to exchange the photos. But they were emailing this document around. So in the end I still got a cool scandal to report on.”

EMS Chief Tom Wolls is trying to play damage control. “People whose name appears on that list are now claiming they were getting sub par care, and longer transport times. There is no data to support these claims. Run reports show my EMTs gave the right care for the medical issues, they also show proper mileage and run times.”

When asked why his EMTs had this list the Chief said that city attorneys have advised him not to comment. The Chief was able to verify that twelve of the eighteen people on the list have filed a civil lawsuit.