It’s an arrest that shocked many people in the region. An EMT was taken into custody and charged with driving under the influence of drugs with a patient in the back.
A day after the arrest the EMT's employer is speaking out. Jan-Care Ambulance Services has been transporting patients for nearly four decades. This is the first time an EMT or paramedic has been arrested for DUI.
The company does not want one isolated incident to tarnish its reputation. When it comes to safety Shane Wheeler says Jan-Care puts patients first.
The ambulance service's reputation hit a road block when one of its EMT's was arrested and charged with drug abuse DUI.
"Those actions of that individual shouldn't represent how everybody at Jan-Care is or how everybody in the EMS industry is for that matter," Jan-Care Ambulance Chief of Field Operations Shane Wheeler said.
Wheeler says protecting the public starts with new employees who must go through an extensive background check and the monitoring doesn't stop there.
A small camera acts like big brother, recording the road and the driver. It tracks any bad behavior in front of or behind the wheel.
Drivers are also monitored through drug-testing. The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals says in general, drug testing is an invasion of privacy, but there are exceptions if there is reasonable suspicion that an employee is doing drugs or if the employee’s job involves public safety.
In Jan-Care's case, both forms of testing are legal. David Rotter also agrees with random testing. He owns Patriot EMS, a Jan-Care competitor, but he says this recent arrest should not reflect the industry.
"Thousands and thousands of ambulance trips occur everyday without incidents, and this is something that while unfortunate, the responsibility belongs to an individual and not the industry itself," Patriot EMS Chief Operations Officer David Rotter said.
Right now, Jan-Care performs drug tests on employees if the company suspects any weird behavior or if it gets a complaint, but beginning in a few weeks, Jan-Care will also start random drug testing, which again is legal because public safety is at risk.
Many ambulances services do not perform drug testing at all. Jan-Care says this is another instance in which it is putting public safety first.
Every Jan-Care employee also gets a drug test before they're hired.