Shepherd without dependable EMS services

[Guest guest]

The Huntsvilles Item: News Column

Shepherd without dependable EMS services

By Mike Wheeler/The Huntsville Item

COLDSPRING - San Jacinto County Judge Joe said Tuesday the county no

longer can lay the burden of providing emergency medical services on volunteers,

and it can't expect the Point Blank volunteer EMS to overextend itself further

in trying to cover the entire county.

" I was told last week by EMS personnel in Shepherd that they would cease

service by 6 p.m. last Friday, but they have been able to keep the doors open,

at least through today, " said in an emergency meeting of the Commissioners

Court. " What we need to do today is develop a plan to address this problem. "

Barbara Clements, manager of the Shepherd EMS, attended the meeting Tuesday

and told the standing-room-only crowd gathered at the San Jacinto County

Courthouse she would keep the doors to the city's EMS open as long as possible.

" As long as I have volunteers, I will run the ambulance, " she said. " But I

cannot guarantee anything. "

Problems began developing for EMS when a Shepherd-area man, suffering from a

heart attack, died about three years ago when there were no volunteers to man an

ambulance. A lawsuit against the city and the EMS was filed and has not been

settled, she said.

The Texas Department of Health, which oversees emergency medical service

providers in the state, ordered the Shepherd EMS to either hire two full-time

paramedics for the day shift or to shut its doors. Two certified emergency

medical technicians are required to be on board an ambulance when it provides

medical attention, she said.

" We were forced to hire paramedics in order to continue providing services,

but now our money is gone, " Clements said.

The Shepherd EMS receives $13,000 each year from the city of Shepherd and

$15,000 from the county's fire district each year, but Clements said that money

can be used only for fuel, supplies and maintenance. The salaried personnel are

paid out of what the EMS bills for its services, she said.

However, Clements said the EMS collects only about 15 percent of the money

owed by people who have used the service, including a small amount, between $22

and $25 paid by Medicaid, and a larger amount, averaging about $175, paid by

Medicare. Clements said it takes about $25,000 a month to operate the EMS

service 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The average cost of a transport is

about $650, she said.

Point Blank has, since the problems began escalating in Shepherd, provided

emergency medical services covering most of the county, including the Shepherd

area, and has worked as a mutual aid provider to Shepherd and other EMS services

in the San Jacinto County area.

Sharon , vice-president of the Point Blank EMS Board, said Tuesday at

the meeting that the volunteers would continue to provide services to all areas

of the county as much as possible.

" We have discussed the situation and we will continue as the service

provider, but we cannot provide 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week service for

Shepherd, " she said. " If there is a call, we will respond when possible, but the

people in Shepherd must realize that it will take us a few minutes to get

there. "

The communities are about 40 miles apart.

Clements said little, if any, mutual aid is available from surrounding

counties. She said Polk County has said it will not respond, and Cleveland, in

Liberty County south of Shepherd, has said EMS services would be provided only

on State Highway 59 in San Jacinto County and only in the event of a major

accident.

said Montgomery County has agreed to offer some assistance, and

said County previously has offered mutual aid and continues to do

so.

" We don't call them very often, but County does come when we request

their help, " said.

Seeking out cures

said the county is limited in options as to correcting the EMS

problem. The county can hold a special election to create an emergency services

district, as it did one year ago but failed, or seek proposals from EMS

providers to handle the county's needs.

" We must develop a plan immediately to address this problem, " said.

" We have stretched our expectations for EMS volunteers to the limit and the

situation in Shepherd shows what a serious situation we are in. This plan must

be one all of us agree on and must involve all the EMS volunteers, as well as

residents in the county. It must be a solid plan and one that will work for all

of us. "

said he believed the special election called last year failed because

proponents failed to submit a clear plan that everyone understood. Creating the

ESD would involve a property tax increase of less than $50 per year for property

owners.

" Regardless of that, what all of us must do is get involved. If all of you

do not support the plan we develop, none of us can expect anyone else to support

it, " the county judge said. " The bottom line is that we will beg and plead, or

whatever it takes, to get EMS services for San Jacinto County. "

said Point Blank would work with the commissioners but refused

adamantly to relinquish any of their funds, buildings or equipment to the

county.

" That was our understanding of the last attempt to form an ESD, and that's

why we didn't support it then, " she said. " We do support EMS for the county, and

we will continue to provide mutual aid to Shepherd, but what we have now we will

not give up. We are in good shape financially, and we intend to stay that way.

Shepherd EMS failed because they had to begin paying salaries. We have only

volunteers. If Shepherd had continued to use only volunteers they, too, still

would be solvent. "

also said Point Blank plans to hold in June advanced life-support

classes, which allow an EMS provider to transport critically ill patients and

provide them with more advanced medical attention.

said there never was an attempt last year to force Point Blank to give

up any funding, equipment or buildings, and there would be no such requirement

of Point Blank in a second attempt to form an ESD.

" What we must do now, " said, " is to move ahead of these kinds of

issues and determine what's best for the county. Look at what we need to do for

the county. I did not understand last year why Point Blank opted out, and I

don't understand why you are doing it again.

" I heard these same stories from you last year, but nothing has happened

since then. I don't know among you who really speaks for Point Blank, but I've

been told that you cannot get paramedics to volunteer. And the reason you are in

such good shape is that you aren't having to pay anyone, as did Shepherd. What I

can't understand is why we can't all work together. No one wants to take

anything from Point Blank. "

Precinct 4 Constable Lou , who also attended the meeting Tuesday,

invited to speak to the Point Blank EMS Board today at its board meeting.

agreed to attend the meeting but said he would be looking more for answers

to solve the county's EMS problems than he would be providing information to the

board. Point Blank is in Precinct 4.

" We have moved well beyond deciding who runs what, where, " said . " We

are in a critical situation that needs an immediate solution. We need to see

that the county has an EMS staff of professionals. No matter what we do, Point

Blank can stay a volunteer EMS provider and serve only Point Blank. That's up to

you. But, don't kill the plans for the rest of the county.

" No one here, then or now, has questioned the dedication of any volunteer in

this county, especially those volunteers in Point Blank. But we don't have the

resources available in most other counties. We have no refineries, no oil

fields. We only have us, and we must pull together to pull together a plan to

solve this problem. "

Although the county has only a small window to do so, it still has time to

call for a special election to form an emergency service district, said.

The county has until July 25 to call for the election.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ Home Page ][ Local News ][ Obituaries ][ Guestbook ][ Classifieds ][ Calendar

][ Business Guide ]

[ About Us ][ Subscribe ][ Letters ][ Health ][ Entertainment ][ Town hall ][

World News ][ Stocks/Market ]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------