CARROLL COUNTY, Tenn. — Carroll County commissioners are asking first responders and EMTs to come to their meeting next Monday, October 12, and help them figure out what to do about the county’s ambulance services.
The commission will take up the county’s ambulance coverage as a discussion item at its regular meeting at 7 p.m. at the Carroll County Office Complex, located at 625 High St. in Huntingdon. No resolution is on the agenda. Commissioners say they want to listen first.
Commissioner Dan Willman said he personally encouraged first responders to attend and sign up for the Citizens’ Forum at the Resolutions Committee meeting on October 5. He said several told him they plan to be there.
“I told them it’s not a fussing session,” Willman said. “But we need to hear from them.”
The discussion comes after concerns about the county’s ambulance coverage has gotten impossible to ignore.
On Friday morning, a woman injured in a two-vehicle crash on SR-22 near McKenzie High School waited 48 minutes for an ambulance.
McKenzie Police Chief Ryan White said he was on scene within about three minutes of the 10:47 a.m. dispatch. Responders were told the closest Priority unit was en route from Jackson, more than 45 minutes away. A medical helicopter was requested but could not fly because of the weather. Weakley County had no units available. An ambulance from Henry County finally arrived at 11:35 a.m.
White explained that he had spoken with Priority’s Vice President following two incidents earlier in the month in which ambulance availability was an issue.
“They said this wouldn’t happen, that there’s always an ambulance in the county,” White said. “There’s not.”
The next day, a person suffering a medical emergency at the Huntingdon Marching Invitational lay in pain for over 30 minutes. No ambulance was available. A Huntingdon police officer obtained permission to transport the person to the hospital in his patrol vehicle.
These long waits were not isolated incident, White said. Officers regularly hear over the radio that no ambulance is in the county, and recently his department waited extended amounts of time on two cardiac incidents in the same day.
“The city has already bought a heart monitor for its first responders because of such delays,” White said. “But they are not equipped to treat trauma.”
White has asked County Mayor Joseph Butler to put him on the agenda for Monday’s meeting.
“I think they’re all willing to help and do something,” White said of county commissioners. “But we need to figure out what that something is, because this isn’t working.”
Priority Ambulance Response
Carroll County Observer reached out to Priority Ambulance on October 5.
Morgan Szymczyk, who is Vice President of Marketing & Communications for the company responded the same day. Carroll County Observer did not see the communication until after originally publishing this article.
Priority’s official statement is as follows:
Baptist Ambulance has historically provided Carroll County with three advanced life support ambulances staffed 24 hours a day to respond to 911 calls and emergency interfacility transports.
At the time of the recent response delays, all three ambulances were fully staffed and actively on other emergency calls. To strengthen coverage, Baptist Ambulance will dedicate these three units exclusively to 911 response and deploy a fourth staffed unit to handle hospital interfacility transports.
Baptist Ambulance will also establish an EMS Oversight Committee composed of local officials and community stakeholders. The committee will review system performance and provide input on future operational decisions.
We remain committed to working closely with Carroll County to provide reliable emergency medical services and strengthen response throughout the community.
Staffing Issues
According to Willman, Baptist Hospital’s contract with Priority Ambulance calls for 25 employees and two ambulances stationed in Carroll County. Willman said Priority currently has 14 employees and has pulled a unit that was based in McKenzie.
“Right now, they’re not holding up to the contract, keeping two ambulances in the county,” Willman said at the resolutions committee meeting. “That’s really what it comes down to.”
With 14 employees, the service can effectively staff one ambulance at a time. When that unit leaves the county on a nursing home transport or hospital transfer, Carroll County has no coverage.
Willman described a recent incident where a person with a cut finger at HydroGear had to be airlifted because no ground unit was available.
Willman said the lack of mutual aid agreements with neighboring counties compounds the problem. Henry, Weakley, and Carroll counties have no formal agreements in place for ambulance coverage.
“They don’t play in the sandbox at all, and that has to get fixed,” Willman said.
He said commissioners from neighboring counties have told him they are willing to work together. Several commissioners at the committee meeting pointed out that a Dresden ambulance is only about 17 minutes from McKenzie, but without an agreement, neighboring units aren’t automatically dispatched when Carroll County’s ambulance is unavailable.
Communication is also a factor. Willman said Priority is not consistently reporting its availability to 911 dispatch, which means the system doesn’t always know the county has no coverage until someone calls for help.
What Commissioners Want to Know
Willman said commissioners need to hear directly from the people who respond to emergencies in Carroll County, whether they are EMTs, firefighters, or police officers working scenes while they wait for an ambulance that may or may not come.
“I think we just need to set a goal of trying to have a response within 20 minutes anywhere in the county,” Willman said. “And get the EMTs and fire departments to say, how do we do this? Because they’re going to be the ones that know.”
Monday’s meeting will also include five resolutions: reappointments to the Carroll County Indigent Care Board, authorization of an AT&T internet and telephone agreement, and three budget amendments to the Grant Fund, Highway Fund, and General Fund.