Today, the sirens went off to get a Volunteer to come in and drive one of the east side ambulances. The County does have two paid Paramedics but here's the problem. When a call comes in, someone has to be there to DRIVE the ambulance.
Because no Volunteer was able to come in quick enough, (this morning) one of the Paramedics had to drive to the other Station so to meet the second Paramedic so they could respond to the call/emergency. Ultimately it's best to have two Volunteers so they can help load the patient on each call. This also means there was NO Paramedic available to take any other calls on the east side if another call came in.
What's interesting is, one friend explained to me this morning how they had to call in an Ambulance to take them to the Hospital. Other then taking their vital signs, nothing else was performed at the scene and or on the way to the Hospital. However, when all was said and done they received a bill for $690.00, that's a fact.
Aside from the fact that each property owner pays taxes to cover these type of services, tacking on an additional $690.00 seems to be a bit outrageous, wouldn't you agree?
Nevertheless, Wicomico County has a problem. While we could sit here and follow the scanner day in and day out, we've got much better things to do. However, in the short time that we have been listening we're clearly seeing the County simply cannot handle these emergencies.
All that being said, what do YOU think needs to be done to resolve these issues?
16 comments:
Once again this points to how backward and outdated the county is. There needs to be a consolidation of Salisbury city and Wicomico services, a county police force, a county fire/ems department. The list goes on. The more successful counties offer these services and have for years. It is time that the leaders of the county/city get over the petty territorial issues, put on their big boy/girl pants and modernize things.
Wicomico needs to decide whether they want to be a progressive County or whether they want to stay a rural County. Which do you think businesses looking to expand want?
This is a difficult problem to resolve as their is so much pride in the small volunteer companies. It is going to take leadership and compromise. I'm not sure there is anyone currently in leadership who can get all parties to the table to resolve these coverage issues. Between territorial issues and MONEY, it is a mess.
Let one of my family members die because of this and the problem will be how much is wicomico going to raise taxes when they are hit with a multi million dollar lawsuit?
How many paid EMS personnel are at station 16? The next question is why even have an ambulance at an EMS station without the three people required to operate it? We might as well just shut that station down and send the two employees over to the other station
Joe, you are the one who is keeping this in the public eye, as a major problem. What do you believe is the solution? How do other counties handle this situation?
Property taxes don't cover ambulance fees. In Fruitland you can sign up for their ambulance service for a flat fee each year and if you need it, your insurance can be billed, but you don't have to pay for the trip to the hospital. $690 is a little excessive to just take vital signs, especially if it's a short trip to the hospital.
Worcester County and Ocean City are much better prepared and organized when it comes to Fire and EMS. In the summer Ocean City always has three personnel per ambulance staffed, with 7 crews on at a time (summer) and 3 in the winter. All of these full-time personnel are also trained firefighters and can respond to any fire call as well. Berlin, Pocomoke, Snow Hill, and Ocean Pines all seem to have at least one full-time paramedic scheduled per shift. Why is Worcester County better organized than Wicomico?
Volunteer firemen/women are given a tax credit each year for their volunteer work. Someone should be checking to see why these calls are going unanswered.
12:01 PM, has the right answer and I have been saying it for years but damn it all no one listens. Culver and Day get together and get this taken care of and quit all the stupid, no very stupid, territory games. This is not a game, lives matter!!!!
First there are two paid paramedics east of Salisbury. One shared by Parsonsburg and Pittsville, the other shared by Powelleville and Willards. I find it highly unlikely that one paramedic drove to meet the other, but I did not hear the call.
Second EMS is always billed, always has been. Your $690 dollar bill is for an EMS BLS call. $450.00 typically and about $15.00 dollars per loaded mile. The only reason only vitals were taken is either because there was no protocol for the complaint, or more likely the patient did not need an ambulance. Your property taxes pay for fire service. EMS billing is part of health care and is regulated by Medicare/Medicaid. Being that your friend received the bill and it was not covered by insurance or Medicare, that means the claim was denied because an ambulance was not needed.
The cost of a county EMS system would kill this county, assuming you recoup 60% of what EMS bills (that is a high number). EMS bleeds money. $250,000 per ambulance, $25K per cardiac monitor (that's low ball for bulk purchase), staffing, Paramedic @ we'll be nice and low ball that, $15.00 per hour, EMT at $10.00 so for 24 hours your paying $25.00 per hour in salaries alone. That's $600.00 per day in salaries. That's 219,000 a year per station, so say you cover all of the county excluding Salisbury, that's 11 stations, or 2.4 Million a year. Now about those Ambos, $250,000 times 11 stations equals 2.75 million every 5 to 10 years, you might stretch them for 20 years but the maintenance is gonna eat you alive. Then there is fuel and supplies. Think that is too much, I'll half the number of crews to save you money. that's just over a million per year. So for one year not including fuel, supplies, benefits, insurance, maintenance, support, etc. the cost of a county EMS system is a very low estimate of $1.7 mil a year ( I prorated the costs of the ambos for each station) or about the county's entire EMS budget for 2017. Keeping in mind that there is no fuel costs, no advertising cost because no paramedic is going to stay in a county system for $15.00 and hour and no EMT-B in their right mind is gonna work for minimum wage, there is no supply budget, no retirement costs, no benefit costs, no legal fees, no lawsuit settlements, etc. Well, you should have the idea by now.
5:15 you sure did shut everyone up. Plain to see some comment postings were from Mouth Runners. Thanks for taking the time to clarify possible misinformation and explaining the facts.
5:35
It happened this morning and it happened another morning also. BOTH paramedics were on the same call for 1 patient because there was no driver available. Luckily this morning they didn't get another call while the ambulance was at AGH. They weren't as lucky the last time this happened.
No one said the claim was denied they stated what was charge.
What you didn't answer is why are these fire departments not responding to calls other than fire calls?
Your calculations are little off. They are already paying for 2 paramedics on the East side, but what good are they if there is no one to drive for them?
Even if you spell it out for them (and you did a good job) the people on here will not get it. Some just like to bash.
That's an easy question 8:23, it's because the kids volunteering these days don't care about the community they are supposed to be serving. It's not cool to ride an ambulance. If it's not a fire call they aren't interested. If they can't post selfies on Facebook in their turnout gear after a mulch fire to show how much of a super hero fireman they are then it's just a waste of time for them. When I volunteered you got on whatever piece of equipment that was needed EVEN the ambulance!! Nowadays, these guys are "too good" to ride the ambulance. If you think it's not true, watch your local volunteer firehouse when an ambulance call comes in. Could be waiting 10-15 minutes for the ambulance to get out. Let a "fire call" come in and there will be 20 people breaking down the doors to get in.
The current volunteer system can not keep up the way they are running. First they are being dispatched to way to many calls that are not real emergencies or calls that fire departments should not be responding on. One is a flooded basement. Call a plumber. Second is electric wires down. Call Delmarva Power. Third is electric wires arcing. Call an electrician. Fourth, automatic dispatches to most ambulance calls. No, not needed. Fifth, dispatching fire engines to all 10-50 PI(MVC's with injuries). No, not needed. For years Salisbury and Fruitland did not respond on 10-50's unless it was reported with rescue or entrapment. It is an EMS call, not a fire call. Sixth, false calls for automatic fire alarm activations. Should not be sending a fire truck or entire fire departments. Not needed. They are false alarms and never result in a fire.
There are so many calls that Bush Beach and the volunteer chiefs association invented to respond on just because they want to so they can be "in command." Also known as Little D!ck Syndrome.
It's time for a fully paid EMS department in the County. It is also time for a Paid fire chief in the county with some paid staffing in key areas through out the county. Paramedics should be supervised by paramedics, not volunteer fireman. Paramedics should not be supervise by fireman period, unless they themselves are paramedics.
Wicomico County can not afford to have paid firemen sitting around all day and sleeping all night and neither can Salisbury. That practice needs to be stopped.
Wicomico County should take over all Fire and EMS in Wicomico County. If Salisbury doesn't agree to that then Wicomico County should take over all EMS and run it county wide. If Salisbury does not agree to it then cut them off.
It is time for a more organized, structured, efficient and fiscally responsible fire service that is accountable to our elected leaders who pay the bills.
Most volunteer stations are scratching on calls especially during the day. This is where some paid firemen drivers may be needed during the day. A full time fire chief/administrator is need to run the day to day operations. It wouldn't be taking the fire departments away from the volunteers, but it would be supplementing them. Volunteers would supplement the paid firemen and vice versa. If the volunteers don't want to agree with that then cut their funding off until they comply.
It is time for the fire service to come up to the 21 Century. It's time for a real fire service in Wicomico County and anything less can be blamed on Bob Culver and the County Council.
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