A 32-year-old Edgewater woman died recently of cardiac arrest after an EVAC ambulance failed to arrive on scene for 32 minutes and denied fire rescue personel permission to transport her to a hospital 11 minutes after her mother's 911 call. Joell Cianfrocca suffered an severe asthma attack at 7 a.m. that morning and fire department paramedics responded immediately to the 911 call placed by Cianfrocca's mother.

However, the EVAC ambulance that was en route to Cianfrocca's Edgewater home was re-routed to another call deemed to be a higher priority. Another ambulance 12 miles from Cianfrocca's home on Sabal Palm Drive was retasked to Cianfrocca.

The Edgewater Fire Department responded immediately and worked to stabilize Cianfrocca who had slipped into cardiac arrest. The Edgwater Fire Department responded with a vehicle very similar to an ambulance and requested permission to transport Cianfrocca to New Smyrna's Bert Fish Medical Center.

However, EVAC denied them permission to transport Cianfrocca to a hospital because of a law that makes it illegal for any emergency service but EVAC to transport any patient in Volusia County to any hospital.

EVAC officials claim that the reason the first ambulance was rerouted away from Cianfrocca is that the 911 call was initially reported as an asthma attack and not as a cardiac arrest. ECAV also claims that though 14 ambulances were in the vicinity that they were all responding to emergencies when Cianfrocca's call came in.

EVAC's contract with Volusia county requires an ambulance to respond to an emergency call within 8 minutes 59 seconds on 90 percent of the calls in urban locations and 11 minutes 59 seconds in rural locales. EVAC officals report meeting that goal on 94 percent of calls.

Local law did not always deny every emergency service but EVAC the ability to transport emergency patients. Before last fall, the fire departments in certain Volusia cities were allowed to transport emergency victims to medical facilities. However, that law was changed because EVAC said it was too expensive for them.