ETMC EMS Issue Re: Local hospital officials keep watchful eye on ambulance serv...

[Guest guest]

Thanks for your reply .

ETMC has had to pull trucks from other areas. I have personally seen them send

trucks from Tyler to County on emergency runs- your dispatch records

would reflect that. I have stood by on Highway 155 to lead the EMS crews in,

because they were not familar with the area. I have seen them send trucks

from Leonard to SE Fannin County. Below, I am posting a snipet from a posting

sent in March 2002 in regards to ETMC Fannin County EMS. This was posted by a

member of the listserver, who is a coordinator with another EMS agency west of

Fannin County. This message is no longer viewable on the EMS Yahoo Groups

Server, but fortunately, I maintain an archive of previous messages.

To refresh your memory, or to let you see the message for the first time, in

case you were not a member of the listserver then here it is: (NOTE- this

message was not posted by me).

To:

Sent: Sunday, March 03, 2002 6:22 PM

Subject: RE: ETMC Pullout from Fannin County????

ETMC has not faired well in Fannin Co. Fannin Co. is looking at a re-bid or

starting a county run operation. Response times are long... 45 Min. inside

Bonham to a CPR (Both 24 Hours trucks on were on Transfers.) Bells/Savoy EMS

and our service (Whitewright) has been covering alot of their emergency calls

on the west side of the county including Bonham. We routinely get dispatched

to Honey Grove, Ladonia, Dodd City etc. which we turn down, as AMR Greenville

or Delta County is much closer. Bells/Savoy EMS is putting on a " Day Truck "

just to run VA transfers to Dallas. I think Fannin county has opted out of the

contract and ETMC has 6 months. I Hope this helps.

-----

In regards to ETMC's bidding on the Waco contract- I could care less whether

your company gets the contract or not. I have not stated anything about Waco-

other than the previous track history of ETMC's pullouts & them sending trucks

from other counties to cover their area. That is all there is to it. If ETMC

wins the contract, more power to them.

The last time I checked, this is an open discussion forum, and every person is

entitled to his or her own opinion. If that opinion were to step on toes, I am

sorry for that. . In fact, a former ETMC paramedic confirmed what I said

yesterday about sending units to cover in other areas. Here is a snipet from

this message " As a former field paramedic and communication supervisor for

ETMC-EMS, I have been in both aspects of your topic. I have been the one that

has had to go cover a area and been the one that would send a unit to cover a

area, because

there was not a unit to cover that area. "

My topic was merely discussion, however you have broadend the topic to expand on

the issue, by accusing me of attacking ETMC EMS and by having a personal problem

with ETMC, neither of which is correct. If you had left it alone, then I would

not have posted this.

My posting was not meant as an attack on ETMC EMS- but stated that there is a

problem with coverage, and that ETMC had pulled out of several areas.

In fact here is 2 of my comments in regards to ETMC EMS, which you failed to

post:

" I am not saying at all that ETMC EMS provides bad service- the Panola county

crews were a big help over the summer in transporting my patients, but it

appears that their is a problem in keeping enough trucks online- a big part of

that may be finances, but if you don't make enough money overall in the entire

system- then you have to close out trucks to keep them from pulling the whole

company down. "

That is a common managerial decision. If you can't get funding to sustain a

stable income base, and to run your EMS unit, then you have to do something-

increase your fees, up the price of the contract, get more reimbursements- or

pull out of the area. The same is true for a gas station that is not making a

profit. If a hires was not making a profit, then the company would close

the store & merge operations or relocate. That is common business sense.

Here is another comment " At least ETMC had a smooth changeover in their pullouts

& managed to provide adequate coverage- without violating their contracts....

MedStar was or was about to be fined penalties under the management of AMR &

their failing to meet the requirements of the contract. "

That says alot in itself. Smooth changeover is the best kind.

" To the employees of East Texas Medical Center- I have never put you, or your

entity down. Someone prematurely jumped the gun, by making assumptions on that

one. In fact, I was pleased with the service I recieved from ETMC, both as

professional EMS personnel, as well as a victim of a line of duty injury I

recieved in July. "

I don't see how that could be negative in any way, shape, nor form.

J. Hoskins

Re: Local hospital officials keep watchful eye on

ambulance serv...

Jay,

I copied this from your e-mail.

From my understanding in talking with Tyler paramedics, ETMC has a hard

time maintaining coverage in their own city. Don't quote me on that- but I

believe that a couple of years ago, they were talking about the FD taking

over EMS.I have not seen

ETMC able to maintain the truck coverage in any county I have worked in.

All I am asking is that if you dont know what you are talking about, keep

quiet.

If you would like to talk about the Waco area call me, I will tell you

correct info and not stuff that you can just make up.

Saunders