If the Fire Department response time was 4 minutes to that particular spot, it seems that calling 911 was the correct thing to do. The Fire Department EMT's have everything they need already packed up and ready to roll at a moment's notice.
Just because a "staffer" works at a hospital does not mean he has any knowledge to offer in an acute medical emergency.
In regards to the ER, VA centers can be huge and it could take a lot longer than 4 minutes to get a crash team running out to a parking lot on the opposite side of the campus.
Everybody wants to be victims right along with the victim.
Leni
Singleton arrived at the VA Hospital about 4:35 p.m. He ran into the urgent care center, yelled for help and returned to his car with a wheelchair. A security guard appeared outside and told Singleton the clinic had closed five minutes earlier, but 911 had been called.
Manley said the timing had nothing to do with the fact that Fuller wasn't helped by VA staff. "The patient arrived at our facility in respiratory distress," the hospital director said. "The most skilled people we had went out to the patient, but you have to have the professional equipment to do the work," and with the ambulance showing up quickly, the VA nurse and physician did not tend to Fuller.
I always thought VA hospitals (be they clinics, trauma centers, whatever) were for helping veterans, and from what I’ve read; this one’s failure is abhorrent.