Ala. Ambulance Service Workers Walk Off Job

Feb. 08--Decatur Emergency Medical Services Inc. ambulances were out of service for about three hours Friday as employees protested erratic paydays from the company.

The first DEMSI truck went off-line at 5:30 p.m., said Ryan Welty, director of Morgan County 911. The last of the three trucks the company had on the road followed at 5:54.

By 8:30, two of DEMSI's ambulances were back in service.

DEMSI and First Response share a city-authorized monopoly on city ambulance services.

Welty said the first word dispatchers heard of the problem came at 5:30 when a DEMSI truck communicated it was no longer in service for "internal reasons."

"One of my dispatchers asked, 'What on earth does that mean?' " Welty said. "They said they had an employee to walk off duty, and then the other trucks put themselves out of service."

Welty said dispatchers had to assign one transport to First Response while DEMSI was out of service, but there were no emergency calls.

DEMSI attorney Barney Lovelace could not be reached for comment.

Decatur Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief Ted McKelvey, the EMS coordinator, said DEMSI ambulances were out of service because of personnel issues.

McKelvey said First Response Ambulance, DEMSI's sole competitor, added two ambulances to avoid a gap in service.

For most of the time DEMSI was down, First Response had five ambulances in service, McKelvey said.

"That's equivalent to the number that would normally be on the road at this time anyway," McKelvey said. "With both companies operating, they would have about five to six trucks operating."

Welty said the city was fortunate the DEMSI personnel issues did not cause more problems.

"It concerns us that there is a stability problem with one of our ambulance companies," Welty said.

Staff members in the emergency room at Decatur Morgan Hospital's main campus said they hadn't felt any effects of the ambulance changes.

"We're here 24 hours a day, and we're going to keep seeing patients no matter who brings them in," said Steve Koshowsky, relief charge nurse.

Shortly after DEMSI ambulances went off-line, First Response sent a text to its employees.

"It appears as though DEMSI has taken themselves out of service for the city," the text read. "We need all available employees starting tomorrow morning. Tonight is now covered as far as I know. Please help out (if) you can and let's get this weekend covered."

Kristi Graham, a part-time employee of DEMSI, said she was out of town, but had talked to several employees about the problem.

"Today was payday, or was supposed to be," Graham said. "I'm not sure if checks were issued or not, and I think that may be what set it off."

Last month, Graham told The Daily that DEMSI paychecks were erratic and often bounced.

"There's a lot of people who think they shouldn't have walked off," Graham said. "I can say that if there hadn't been another ambulance service in the city, they probably would have stayed on the job. But they have to get paid and feed their families and pay their bills, too."

On Dec. 20, 2013, according to Morgan County court records, a federal tax lien was filed against DEMSI.

According to federal court records, a bank obtained a $9.3 million judgment against DEMSI owner Roger Stanmore and a company of his -- Hospitality Group LLC -- that was building a hotel. Collection efforts on the judgment continued into 2013. DEMSI was not a party to the lawsuit.

Delta Locum Tenens LLC filed a certificate of judgment last year for $40,000 in Morgan County against Stanmore and his company Urgent Medcare. Compass Bank filed a foreclosure action against Stanmore in 2012, and several notices of unpaid federal tax liens were filed against Stanmore in Morgan County. The largest was for $495,000.

"The company (DEMSI) is currently in negotiations of a merger with another company which would provide funds to satisfy the federal tax lien recently filed against the company," DEMSI said in a statement to The Daily last month. "Any judgment or tax lien against an individual has no impact on the company."

Eric Fleischauer can be reached at 256-340-2435 or eric@decaturdaily.com. Follow him on Twitter @DD_Fleischauer.

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