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Concerns over EMS response times ‘ironed out,’ officials say
Posted On 03 Mar 2010
Corbin and Whitley County officials say concerns over ambulance response times in the city limits by Whitley County EMS have been ironed out, and a new "on call" policy is now in place to help beef up the number of emergency crews available during busy times.
The issue was raised last week after officials say it took 18 to 20 minutes for Whitley EMS ambulance to arrive at the home of city commissioner Bruce Farris on Feb. 21. Farris had suffered a stroke.
Whitley County EMS Director Kelly Harrison said Tuesday that a new "on call" policy is now in effect that should help ensure enough crews are available at all times to service the county.
"We had it in place this past weekend," Harrison said. "Sometimes you are going to need more ambulances than what we can provide, but we are doing the best we can do and I feel like we are doing a good job."
Basically, a two-person crew will be paid $40 a day on certain days to be on-call and available if needed. Whitley County Judge-Executive Pat White said the idea was not modeled on what any other EMS service was doing, but that it had been utilized in Whitley County in the past.
White and Harrison both pointed out the difficulty of predicting how many ambulances and crews will be needed at any one time. In the 24 hours prior to Farris’s stroke, Whitley EMS crews had only answered two calls in the county.
"We are doing some other comparisons to neighboring counties to make sure our services are at least comparable if not better," White said.
Whitley EMS has eight ambulances in its fleet and is currently looking to purchase a ninth. It has three stations in the county – one in Corbin, another at the Patterson Creek Volunteer Fire Department building in the Gatliff community and the main base in Goldbug off I-75 Exit 15. No other surrounding ambulance agency has more bases.
Harrison confirmed that emergency officials met with Corbin Police Chief David Campbell recently to talk about the issue.
Campbell said last week his officers have complained on numerous occasions about long ambulance response times.
Campbell would not comment on the meeting, but Harrison said it was productive and helped foster a better understanding of the issue.
White noted that the average response time by Whitley EMS in the city limits of Corbin is six minutes.
Corbin Mayor Willard McBurney said he’s spoken with White about the issue a couple of times in the last week and is confidant things have been worked out.
"I talked to Judge White and they are trying to work with us and I think it’s worked out, I really do," McBurney said. "I believe we have all the issues taken care of. If we can work with Whitley that would be fine. He was genuinely concerned about some things that was said and I think we got it all ironed out."
McBurney said the city is not currently looking to start its own ambulance service or contract with another outside agency. In 2008, city officials flirted with the idea of starting a city run ambulance service over concerns there wasn’t enough coverage in the city. Officials also spoke with Ambulance Inc. of Laurel County, a private, non-profit agency that runs the area’s largest ambulance service, but the talks never came to fruition.
The city of Corbin is served currently by both Whitley EMS and Knox County EMS, which operates a base on Roy Kidd Ave.
Whitley EMS has mutual aid agreements with both Knox EMS and Ambulance Inc. of Laurel County.
Harrison said Whitley EMS is dedicated to providing Corbin, and the rest of the county, quality service.
"We will continue to serve the city of Corbin to the best of our ability with the best personnel," Harrison said.
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this is to “wait” yes they did but it was nothing that kelly did it was for the poor ownership of larry and ginger robins and also trying to colect from medicare
didnt mt lifeline go out of business?
Ok thank you former mountain lifeline employee i can see why they put her in charge of the ambulance service then. mountain lifeline did so well it would be a shame to not hire her somewhere with all the xperience.
this is to “Question” kelly harrison was over mountain lifeline before it became whitle county ems so she put over whitley county ems and just fyi that was before her brother was mayor for your info i know what emt’s amd emtp’s get paided and its not much so before you think you know everything why dont you go do a ride along with them and see what its like
Jim: A couple of things you might want to know before criticizing.
First, taking a person vehicle on a lunch run is not an optoin. In general, EMTs (which is what the “driver” is actually called, given that they went through extensive training to get there) don’t get lunch breaks. The only reason they’re able to go in the store at all is because one or both of the crew has a portable radio (generally paid for out of pocket by the EMT). If they’re in a restaurant or shopping for groceries, if they get a run, they drop what they’re doing. If a crew has been on runs since 8:00AM and they finally get a chance to grab food at 4PM, they either try to eat the food as quickly as possible en route to the call or else they get rid of it. If that means that don’t get another chance to eat till 8PM, so be it.
Second, part of the reason you see an ambulance running outside a store? It’s so that if the crew does get a call, the temperature inside the ambulance will be comfortable for the patient. They also don’t want to take a chance the ambulance won’t start, since most of the services are barely making ends meet and are doing the best they can with the equipment they can afford.
Third, the people you’re criticizing for having the audacity to go in and try to buy food while on duty? They’re grossly underpaid. They’re probably working a 24 hour shift and several of them have to work several 24 hours shifts at multiple services to make ends meet.
Finally, response times are slow, yes. As EMS Child pointed out, we live in a very rural area. To put it in context, Whitley County has a population of about 38,000 in an approximately 500 square mile area. Lexington, on the other hand, has a population of 300,000 in a 300 square mile area. Simply put, fewer people means fewer emergencies. Fewer emergency calls makes it very hard to justify multiple crews, especially on a limited budget. If there were enough crews hired so that they could be spread out widely enough to all have a ten minute response time, the might only get one run per crew in a 24 hour period….if that. Simply put, the ambulance services just can’t afford that.
They do the best they can. They try to hire enough crews to adequately cover the county and put them in central locations to try to minimize the response time as much as possible. And yes, it’s a bad situation. In a perfect world, everyone would be able to have an ambulance at their door in five minutes. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world and I honestly don’t see a way of solving the problem of this area being relatively sparsely populated.
I don’t know enough about the workings of Whitley County EMS to know if it’s well run or not. I do know, however, that even the best run service possible would encounter these problems when it comes to response time in our area.
But to go back to my original point: Don’t attack EMTs or imply that they’re somehow slacking off for making a quick stop to get a meal…one that could be interrupted by an emergency. They’re doing the best they can in a very difficult situation and they deserve praise for it.
A family member had a stroke a few years ago. Yes, the response time was slower than I would have liked. It was, without a doubt, the longest few minutes of my life. But when they did arrive, they were professional, sympathetic, and knowledgeable. They were able to see what was going on and get her to the hospital quickly, where she received proper treatment. Then, when she was transferred out of town, the same crew took her and they were once again excellent.
To sum up, if you’re frustrated at being in a difficult situation due to geography and population, go for it. But don’t try to condemn the very people who are doing their absolute best to make the system work and ensure that those who need it get medical care as quickly as possible.
Jim: A couple of things you might want to know before criticizing.
First, taking a person vehicle on a lunch run is not an optoin. In general, EMTs (which is what the “driver” is actually called, given that they went through extensive training to get there) don’t get lunch breaks. The only reason they’re able to go in the store at all is because one or both of the crew has a portable radio (generally paid for out of pocket by the EMT). If they’re in a restaurant or shopping for groceries, if they get a run, they drop what they’re doing. If a crew has been on runs since 8:00AM and they finally get a chance to grab food at 4PM, they either try to eat the food as quickly as possible en route to the call or else they get rid of it. If that means that don’t get another chance to eat till 8PM, so be it.
Second, part of the reason you see an ambulance running outside a store? It’s so that if the crew does get a call, the temperature inside the ambulance will be comfortable for the patient. They also don’t want to take a chance the ambulance won’t start, since most of the services are barely making ends meet and are doing the best they can with the equipment they can afford.
Third, the people you’re criticizing for having the audacity to go in and try to buy food while on duty? They’re grossly underpaid. They’re probably working a 24 hour shift and several of them have to work several 24 hours shifts at multiple services to make ends meet.
Finally, response times are slow, yes. As EMS Child pointed out, we live in a very rural area. To put it in context, Whitley County has a population of about 38,000 in an approximately 500 square mile area. Lexington, on the other hand, has a population of 300,000 in a 300 square mile area. Simply put, fewer people means fewer emergencies. Fewer emergency calls makes it very hard to justify multiple crews, especially on a limited budget. If there were enough crews hired so that they could be spread out widely enough to all have a ten minute response time, the might only get one run per crew in a 24 hour period….if that. Simply put, the ambulance services just can’t afford that.
They do the best they can. They try to hire enough crews to adequately cover the county and put them in central locations to try to minimize the response time as much as possible. And yes, it’s a bad situation. In a perfect world, everyone would be able to have an ambulance at their door in five minutes. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world and I honestly don’t see a way of solving the problem of this area being relatively sparsely populated.
I don’t know enough about the workings of Whitley County EMS to know if it’s well run or not. I do know, however, that even the best run service possible would encounter these problems when it comes to response time in our area.
But to go back to my original point: Don’t attack EMTs or imply that they’re somehow slacking off for making a quick stop to get a meal…one that could be interrupted by an emergency. They’re doing the best they can in a very difficult situation and they deserve praise for it.
A family member had a stroke a few years ago. Yes, the response time was slower than I would have liked. It was, without a doubt, the longest few minutes of my life. But when they did arrive, they were professional, sympathetic, and knowledgeable. They were able to see what was going on and get her to the hospital quickly, where she received proper treatment. Then, when she was transferred out of town, the same crew took her and they were once again excellent.
To sum up, if you’re frustrated at being in a difficult situation due to geography and population, go for it. But don’t try to condemn the very people who are doing their absolute best to make the system work and ensure that those who need it get medical care as quickly as possible.
Is the mayors sister the one who runs it? Wonder how she got that job?
Is the mayors sister the one who runs it? Wonder how she got that job?
our county ambulance company is a joke!!!!
our county ambulance company is a joke!!!!
I’VE SEEN THIS FIRST HAND…. AN AMBULANCE PARKED OUTSIDE OF KROGERS AND OTHER STORES… AMBULANCE RUNNING WHILE THE DRIVER IS INSIDE SHOPPING…. WE ALL HAVE TO EAT, BUT YOU NEED TO LEAVE THE AMBULANCE TO WHERE ANOTHER DRIVER CAN TAKE IT IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY AND TAKE YOUR PERSONAL VEHICLE ON LUNCH RUNS…..
Yes, Whitley EMS does take a while to respond. But we live in a very rural county. It also doesn’t help that (I’ve seen this first hand) when an ambulance is en route, full lights & sirens, people won’t pull off, and stay in the road. I challenge the people of the county to imagine its their grandmother or child in the back. Also, of course people whine about response time. When it IS your grandmother, fifteen minutes seems like a lifetime. Whitley EMS does the best with what they’ve got, they put their lives on the line, & they do a very, very good job, & the people of this county should appreciate them more.