PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) – A Better Call Behnken investigation uncovered an unlicensed wheelchair transport van operating in Pinellas County.
Pinellas County EMS, which regulates and inspects these types of vehicles, has opened an investigation
“It’s unlicensed activity and it’s unsafe,” said Craig Hare, EMS Director. “This van should not be on the road if it doesn’t have the proper safety restraints.”
EMS has launched an investigation and wants to locate the van in question. Concerns were brought to light when John Vannest, of St. Petersburg, called Better Call Behnken.
Vannest is missing a leg and is in a wheelchair. He says his insurance company sent two vans to pick him up at his nursing home recently, and both were missing any safety straps to secure his chair and his body into the van.
“He kept saying, ‘For you protection. For your protection.’ I said, ‘Where are the belts, the seat belts?’ He looked at me kind of funny, and I said, ‘the belts, the belts.'” And he pointed to the passenger seat up front,” Vannest recalled.
The first time the van showed up, Vannest reluctantly went along. He says he ended up nearly dumped out of his wheelchair when the van took a sharp turn.
“It was terrifying,” Vannest said.
So the second time the van showed up, on Jan. 10, Vannest refused the trip.
He says the driver seemed confused, there was a language barrier, and the driver would not let him out of the van.
He called 911 and a Pinellas County deputy showed up and told the driver he had to let Vannest out.
Vannest’s nursing assistant, Jay Diehl, and other staff at LaurellWood Nursing Center, back up his story.
Diehl said she called her supervisor to check out the van and they both agreed it was unsafe and would not allow Vannest to be transported.
“[It was] a plain white van,” Diehl said. “No tie downs for a wheelchair inside, no safety straps, no gate belt to hook him into the wheel chair at all.”
Vannest called Better Call Behnken to find out who regulates transport vans and why this one is on the road.
Unraveling the mystery is complicated.
This ride goes through his Medicaid insurance. That company uses Magellan Complete Care as an administrator, and that company goes through a California company called Veyo.
Veyo is a transport broker who uses third party companies.
A spokeswoman for Veyo says the company is investigating what happened and that all of their vans should be licensed by the counties they work in. Drivers undergo background checks.
But somehow, this van got on the road.
Hare checked the license plate number of the van that arrived to pick up Vannest and said the county has no record of it.
He has opened an investigation and advises the company using the van to take it off of the road until it is inspected and has proper safety restraints.
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