VIDOR, Texas — Vidor residents voiced their concerns at the city council meeting Thursday following an incident involving a delay in Acadian Ambulance service.
Kaylee Whisneant says while she was driving along Highway 105 near Interstate 10 on Saturday, May 17, 2023, her five-year-old daughter experienced a seizure.
She called 911 and Vidor Police responded.
Whisneant says there was absolutely no response from an ambulance until 30 minutes after the phone call to 911.
Acadian Ambulance was the original company ordered to provide care as they service the City of Vidor, but they never responded.
Orange County ESD #1 ended up dispatching Allegiance Ambulance, even though Vidor city limits is not part of it's territory.
Aside from this incident, at least four other people spoke up to say this is a recurring problem in Vidor.
Whisneant is helping lead the demand for change after what she calls a nightmare experience.
"She had that terrible seizure, and I feel like Acadian needs help. Either they need more people, or something because they failed us," Whisneant said.
Orange County ESD #1 Fire Station Dispatcher Melissa Smith says a partnership with the county could help avoid potentially life-threatening delays.
"Like I said, if they would contact us and Allegiance and work as partners hand in hand, I feel it would serve the community better," she said.
While emergency services were not an official part of Thursday's official agenda, it was clearly an important topic for everyone.
Vidor Police Chief Rod Carroll says he investigated what happened with Whisneant and her daughter.
"There was a human error. That call should have been rolled over at an earlier time and it wasn't. Acadian Ambulances has assured me that they have taken corrective measures so this won't happen again," Carroll said.
12News reached out to Acadian Ambulance for comment.
They provided this statement:
This was the fifth emergency call in Orange County within 49 minutes. It was also the 9th emergency in our service area during that same time frame. We had fifteen emergency vehicles on duty at this time. Eight minutes into the call being received, we confirmed with a mutual aid partner that they were enroute to the emergency. Following the incident, we performed an internal investigation of our processes, as well as met with Vidor city officials to review.
Whisneant previously told 12News, this is unacceptable.
"At the time she was gasping for air, turning purple, but they had us out to the hospital within 10 minutes," she said.
Whisneant's daughter was transported to St. Elizabeth Hospital and later taken to Texas Children's Hospital in Houston.