February 16, 2011
The
Portland Observer Black H¡StOiy M o n th
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Portland Adventist Medical Center came under criticism last week for failing to help a heart attack
victim who crashed his car in the hospital’s parking lot. But Tuesday, the medical center released
surveillance video to show they did dispatch a paramedic to help the man, 46 seconds after being
notified o f the emergency.
H ealth
Adventist Video Shows Help
pages 10-11
C alendar
page 12
Nurse dispatched
paramedic 46 seconds
after notification
Police Chief Mike Reese has stepped back from
criticism officers leveled at Portland Adventist Medical
Center where a 61 -year-old Portland man was dying in
a parking lot last week and officers were told to call 911.
Reese appeared at a press conference Tuesday with
Adventist Hospital officials who said medical workers
did everything they could and should have done —
except communicate well with the officers.
Reese says it’s clear that hospital workers were "pre­
paring a response" to help Birgilio Marin-Fuentes, a
Cuban-American from southeast Portland who was first
thought to be a car crash victim. But he suffered a heart
attack while driving to the hospital.
Hospital officials replayed surveillance camera video
they said showed an emergency room charge nurse
dispatching a paramedic within 46 seconds of being
notified that the man was in trouble.
At the time of the incident, police found Marin-
Fuentes unconscious and unresponsive and they
began cardiopulmonary resuscitation. A third officer
went to the ER intake desk and told them what was
happening.
Police said the person at the ER desk told them
they couldn’t come out and to call 911 emergency
services.
The officers said they did not receive any medical
assistance and were left to fend for themselves until
the ambulance arrived and the crew wheeled Marin-
Fuentes the short distance to the emergency room
aboard a gurney.
U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer said Friday he has
asked the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Ser­
vices to conduct an independent investigation to
make sure that the law was followed requiring hospi-
continued
on page 7
Fire Kills Brothers, One Survives
pages 13-19
C lassifieds
page 24
O pinion
w
pages 22-23
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F ood
page 24
11
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Counseling and em otional sup­
port was being given to students
at Concord Elem entary School in
Milwaukie Monday after an apart­
ment fire claimed the life of a young
classm ate and his brother Satur­
day morning.
Appolo Lemi, 6, and Ladu Lemi
4, died of smoke inhalation during
the fire at the Fox Pointe A part­
ment com plex, 4616 S.E. Roethe
Road, in Oak G rove. A third
brother, tw o-year-old W ani, and
their mother, Kimberly Hasty, suf­
fered burns, but escaped through
a w indow o f the second-story
apartment.
Hasty, who dropped Wani to a
passerby, also suffered a broken
ankle from her fall. Firefighters
battled through the flam es to
Wani Lemi, the survivor o f a residential fire, (center) is pictured in
a family photograph with his brothers, Ladu (left) and Appolo, who
both died in the inferno.
reach the two older brothers, but
not before sm oke claim ed their
lives.
A cause for the fire has not
been determ ined, but the m other
told KATU Tuesday she believes
it started from a baseboard heater
that caught a couch on fire.