HUNTINGDON, Tenn. – Carroll County’s new Emergency Medical Services Oversight Committee met for the first time Wednesday, November 4, and spent more than three hours discussing response times, staffing, hospital wait times and ambulance coverage.
The 20-member committee is chaired by Carroll County Fire Chief Jonathan Gaskins. It includes the county mayor, sheriff, police and fire chiefs from McKenzie and Huntingdon, county commissioners, 911 and emergency management leaders, hospital administrators, ambulance service managers and more.
“I know we’ve had some issues recently that’s been very public,” Gaskins said. “This is a time we can talk a little bit about it, but let’s try to make that short, and let’s spend more time on the solution.”
State Rep. Brock Martin, a committee member, spoke during introductions.
“What I can tell you is, as I’ve traveled the state, this is an issue in every county,” Martin said. “No matter if it’s public, private, whatever, we got to figure it out.”
Before the meeting, members received a briefing summarizing Priority’s written answers to 36 questions from the committee.
Priority reported an average 911 response time of 13 minutes, 20 seconds from January through September, measured from dispatch to arrival. It also reported 14 employee departures and 6 hires over the past year.
Reg James, Priority’s regional president, gave an overview of how ambulance systems are staffed and funded.
Members then formed 10 subcommittees covering areas such as clinical quality, ambulance deployment, 911 communications, hospital coordination and first responders.
The rest of the meeting was spent listing goals for those subcommittees to study.
Among them were reducing the time ambulances spend waiting at hospitals, setting replacement standards for aging ambulances, and improving communication between Priority, dispatch, and local fire departments.
Subcommittees will bring recommendations back to the full committee, which plans to meet monthly.
Gaskins, McKenzie Police Chief Ryan White and other members called the meeting a good first start.
The committee meets again Dec. 3 at 9 a.m.