Ala. county loses EMS provider; others fill gap

Officials say there will be no loss of coverage or any longer response times because of County EMS going out of business

October 23, 2013 04:02 AM

The Decatur Daily

MORGAN COUNTY, Ala. — County EMS ceased operations Saturday, taking its ambulances out of the Morgan County emergency system, 911 Director Ryan Welty said.

County EMS was the primary service provider for the Danville, Massey and Somerville areas, but Welty said two of the county’s other four emergency medical service providers have stepped in to fill the gap.

Samaritan EMS added an ambulance to its fleet, he said, and placed it in Somerville. Crossroads EMS expanded its coverage to include Danville and Massey. He said only one of County EMS’s two ambulances was responding to emergency calls.

“So we lost one, but we also gained one,” he said.

Mark Ashcraft, who was County EMS operations manager, said the company had been in hard times since founder and owner Terry Garwood died in January.

Garwood, he said, left the company in debt and without a qualified successor. Ashcraft said the company had not been able to meet payroll in the past six weeks.

He said a month ago it reopened an office in Lawrence County that had been closed for a year, hoping it would be a “saving grace,” but that failed.

“Even with all we went through,” he said, “if Terry hadn’t passed, I feel like the company would still be chugging right along.”

Crossroads EMS owner Candi Hayes said she was upset to hear of County EMS’s closing.

“I’m really sad that County shut down,” she said. Hayes said she had worked for County EMS years ago, so the feeling was personal.

“It’s a really sad thing. But we’re going to do our best to make sure the county is taken care of.”

She said Crossroads will add two ambulances to its fleet, one stationed in Danville. Both should be available within a month, she said.

In the meantime, emergency response to the Danville and Massey communities may be slower than what County EMS could provide, she said, because Crossroads EMS is farther away.

“Being there in Hartselle,” she said, “response time for a call going out to Danville is anywhere from six minutes to 15 minutes, depending on how far out it is. County probably was just a few minutes quicker.”

Welty said having contracts with several emergency service providers made the loss of one easier to handle.

“To lose one or two ambulances isn’t that big a deal when we had five companies offering service because there are still 15 other ambulances in the system,” he said.