On February 3, the Board of Commissioners of Worth County met to discuss and vote on a myriad of issues in the county. Amongst those many issues was the suspension of John Graddy. The Worth County Fire-Rescue Captain appealed to the board by first explaining to the public why he was suspended. According to Graddy, on January 15 he responded to aid Phoebe Worth EMS. Graddy was called by the supervisor on shift, Josh Gordon, saying he was in desperate need for help. According to Graddy, the Battalion Chief and Lieutenants decided that D-1 would run medical calls and that he was acting in compliance with said decision. Upon arrival Graddy discovered that the patient was in serious condition. However, HIPAA laws prevent him from going into full details as to the state of the patient. Graddy said, “It was a life and death situation. I had to make a decision on what to do. I did not have time to act. I did not have time to second guess. I did not have time to call for help. I did not have time to get my lieutenant to come and get some body to bring him because of the life threat to the patient.”
Graddy went on to say that the EMT’s needed him to drive the ambulance to Albany. Graddy claimed he was the only one there, and that he saw no other way other than to drive the ambulance to save the patient’s life. Graddy also stated that this has been done before and that it is standard procedure for Worth County Fire Rescue to aid EMS on medical calls. According to Graddy, it has been standard procedure for fire department personnel to drive ambulances into Phoebe or any other surrounding hospital as needed when EMS is out of personnel available.
Graddy confessed, “I have since found out since that happened that there was another unit available in the county with EMS. It is policy with EMS that they only call the fire department when all resources have been exhausted.” Graddy continued, “When I was called I didn’t take the time to ask Josh (Gordon), ‘Ok have you called everybody that you need to call? Are all your ambulances busy? Is the director here?’ You know I didn’t take that time. I was under the assumption that all that had already been done and he was in dire need of help. I didn’t think about it. I went to help.”
Graddy said he drove the ambulance to Albany. According to the captain, while over in Albany the stretcher feel out of the back of the ambulance causing Graddy’s elbow to pop out of joint. It also caused his bicep tendon to tear. The EMT’s took the patient into the hospital and during that time Graddy’s arm started swelling and he stated that his arm was becoming numb. Graddy decided to file workers comp and was seen in the emergency room. Graddy claims he didn’t know that he had done anything wrong. He also stated he was told on January 17 not to report to work the next day by Commissioner Ken Hall. Then the next Thursday the Board of Commissioners had a called meeting and suspended Graddy without pay.
Graddy said, “The only reason I drove the ambulance to Albany is because it was standard procedure… I’m a paramedic. I have a state license for paramedic. If you take Phoebe Worth out of the situation and put me in any other situation with the same circumstances I would have to do it by the oath I’ve taken through the state of Georgia.”
Graddy went on to say if the same situation arose again he would act in the same manner. However, Graddy stated that he knows now not to put himself in that situation. Graddy also claimed if he had known there was another ambulance there he would have not responded.
Graddy said, “So, I’m here in front of you hoping you heard my appeal and hoping you understand why I done what I done. To tell each one of y’all that I do appreciate my job. I appreciate what I do. I love what I do and I do what I do for the public.”
Commissioner Joe Gaines asked how to remedy this situation. Graddy responded by saying that the WCFR needs policies and procedures. Graddy claims the last policy and procedure the Board of Commissioners passed regarding WCFR was in 1998. Graddy said, “we have been trying to get these passed so we know what’s right or wrong. We, as Battalion Chiefs, have to make decisions everyday. Do we know whether it’s right or wrong? No. We have to make the best decision we know how to make. That’s what we are put in this position to do. Do I think what I did was right or wrong? I’m not going to say it was right or wrong but would I do it again? I would do it again because it saved that guy’s life.”
Graddy continued by asking the board for mercy and to establish policies on this matter. So, in the future what action should be taken would be clear.
Commissioner Bettye Bozeman said, “You say that y’all have no policies and procedures in place down there. If you don’t have a new one, why weren’t you going by the old one?”
Graddy responded that the old one was signed in 1998 and that was when the county had one person per station.
Bozeman said, “That doesn’t mean you abandon the policy.”
Graddy responded, “There’s nothing in the policy that says you can or cannot help EMS. It’s not there…I was not abandoning my job. I feel like I was doing my job 100%. That’s what I got written up for and that’s what I got suspended for.
Bozeman asked, “You feel like you didn’t abandon your job when you were the head honcho at the fire department that day? You left and you went to Albany.
The captain replied, “If I had waited I would have abandoned the patient.”
The District 3 Commissioner went on to say that an employee from Phoebe came to the commissioner’s meeting the night of Graddy’s incident to tell the board that that employee provided all the employees for EMS.
Graddy said, “I don’t know if the board is familiar but the Worth County Fire Department runs the fourth ambulance. We go on medical calls daily. The contract says the have to provide three ambulances. When those three ambulances go out and you have two in Albany and one coming down from Warwick then you have a call down 133 it’s going to take that Warwick truck 30 minutes to get there. They’re going to call us.”
Bozeman suggested that what needs to be done is the board taking a look at cross training as firefighters and EMT’s. Bozeman brought up the issue of paying Phoebe for EMS service yet again by saying, “Instead of paying Phoebe all this money, now maybe we need to bring it all back to the county.”
Graddy retorted, “I really believe, this is my opinion, forgive me if I say this and its out of turn. I believe if Kim and Kevin had not addressed the board that night and stepped on some toes this probably wouldn’t have been this big of a situation for me.
Bozeman stated that her opinion is that Graddy abandoned his job and went to Phoebe. Bozeman speculated that if something had happened while Graddy was out of the county the consequences would have disastrous.
Graddy said that he left the fire department to assist EMS in very capable hands. According to Graddy, the lieutenant on shift has had experience in a captains position before. The Lieutenant was assigned with two part time personnel that were new to the job with only six weeks experience. Graddy said these two part time employees were not yet ready to drive emergency vehicles.
Bozeman countered, “That’s what I’m telling you. You took off from the county and that left only two people to drive.”
Graddy continued by saying if he had sent his Lt. to Albany that would have left brand new personnel on their engines and rescue trucks. Graddy went on to say this made it difficult to respond to calls because the part time employees are not yet familiar with the county. Graddy even said there were two extra employees at the station who were not on the clock.
Chairman Mike Cosby asked why Graddy had two part time employees at the station.
Graddy responded by saying it was to give them more experience.
Cosby said, “That is the reason (inexperienced employees) that you should have been on duty because you had two new guys. You had one well trained firefighter and two part time firefighters that were new. It shows me that you should have been on duty down there that night. Even though it was a noble thing that you did to go and assist EMS. What I can’t understand is why Josh (Gordon) called you to come in. Josh is not a supervisor of yours while you’re on duty at the fire department.”
Graddy responded, “It was not an issue of me leaving the fire department and went to my job at EMS. That’s not the issue. I did not leave the fire department to go to my job at EMS. I went in the Tahoe as a fire department personnel to assist a med unit that we do all the time.
Cosby asked if there was a CAD call on this situation.
Graddy said, “That is the only thing I can say is the mistake I made is I did not get on the radio and D-1 is in route to assist med-1 on a call. I did not do that.”
Commissioner Ken Hall asked, ” John, I understand you to say that y’all had two full timers in Warwick?”
Graddy said that Jedd Draughty and Justin Cooper were working that day in Warwick.
Hall stated that a decision was made in the past to have that station manned with one full timer and one part timer. Hall mentioned that the station was not manned that way on that particular day.
Graddy said that the three Battalion Chiefs decided that all new hires would work at headquarters for the first two months of employment to get training.
Graddy also said that he has left the county more than once since he has been Battalion Chief.
Bozeman asked if there were any other employees at EMS headquarters that could have went instead of Graddy.
Graddy said, “At the time I didn’t know because the only time the are supposed to call the fire department is when they have exhausted all resources.”
Bozeman retorted, “Why didn’t he go through the CAD system then?”
Graddy said EMS called the fire department and just asked for help.
Cosby asked why the supervisor didn’t call Phoebe Worth? Graddy said that Josh Gordon (supervisor) was trying to keep the other ambulance available in case there was another emergency in the county.
Bozeman said, “Ok and at the same time we are going to put the fire department in jeopardy.”
Graddy said he would not have went if he had known.
Bozeman said, “A little common sense goes a long way.” And, Graddy retorted, “I believe that was common sense.”
John Graddy’s appeal was denied. His suspension without pay was continued until further investigation is completed.