By Gayle White
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Copyright 2008 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — If public funding for emergency ambulance service in Fulton County expires as scheduled, one of the first casualties could be medical coverage of the Peachtree Road Race.
County cuts, scheduled to take effect July 1, mean Grady Memorial Hospital probably won’t be able to provide physicians, paramedics and ambulances for the race three days later, said Dr. Eric Ossmann, medical director of the emergency medical service at Grady.
“There will be no coverage from Grady as things currently exist,” Ossmann said.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race, with 55,000 registered runners, will proceed even without Grady, said Tracey Russell, executive director of the Atlanta Track Club.
“We’ll have medical teams just as we have in the past,” she said. “We’re trying to work through what that will be.”
Russell said Grady has been a “great partner” to the track club, which organizes the race. She called the EMS funding cuts “unfortunate.”
The Fulton County Commission voted in November to eliminate the $10 million the county was spending for EMS service. That leaves the two emergency ambulance services that cover the county — Grady and Rural/Metro — completely dependent on payments from patients and their insurance companies.
And that means a loss of $6.7 million next year for Grady’s EMS, which holds the contract to cover the central part of the county, officials say.
For more than two decades, Grady’s coverage has included staffing the world’s largest 10K road race.
Last year, Grady provided 10 ambulances along the race route, 12 bicycle medics, five supervisors, and physicians in three medical tents, each with access to an additional ambulance, said Eugene Davenport, Grady’s interim EMS director. The Atlanta Fire Department also furnishes some paramedics.
The overall cost of Peachtree coverage, not counting setup, is close to $20,000, Grady officials said. Grady does not bill the Atlanta Track Club, which furnishes some equipment to the bike teams. “It’s the hospital giving back to the community,” Davenport said.
During the past four years, Grady staff has treated and transported six runners in cardiac arrest, he said. Each walked out of a local hospital a few days later to resume normal activities, he said.
Grady medical staff treats as many as 150 people each race day for other ailments ranging from asthma to sprains. Ambulances take two to four dozen of them to local hospitals.
The race “is a complex medical event that, if it’s not covered appropriately, has the potential to be tragic for someone,” said Ossmann.
Grady’s EMS service already is suffering from the looming cuts, said Michael Ayres, the hospital system’s chief financial officer. Grady EMS has 40 vacant positions because employees left, fearing for their job security after the county cuts, he said.
“Even if funding is immediately restored, damage has been done,” said Ossmann. “It’s going to take some time to get back up to full strength.”
Grady CEO Pamela Stephenson has asked Fulton County to reconsider the funding cuts, saying Grady’s studies show the risk of 30-minute delays for ambulances, even in life-threatening situations.
Fulton Commission Chairman John Eaves said Wednesday that he is “open to some conversation,” but added that the commission has set the county’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
County officials have said the city of Atlanta could take up the slack in Grady payments, but Atlanta leaders say they face a daunting budget deficit of their own.