Ala.`s DEMSI Short on Ambulances for 4th Day in Row
Feb. 10--For the fourth day in a row, Decatur Emergency Medical Services Inc. has fallen below the minimum number of staffed ambulances it is required to have available.
The license that allows DEMSI to operate -- called a Certificate of Public Necessity and Convenience -- requires it to have two ambulances available at all times. They must have a third ambulance operating at least 12 hours a day.
At 12:30 p.m. today, DEMSI had only two medic ambulances online. In order to meet the 12-hour requirement on its third ambulance, it would have had to bring it online by noon.
Because it usually brings its 12-hour ambulance online at 8 or 9 a.m., said Ryan Welty, director of Morgan County 911, dispatchers contacted the company. According to Welty, the dispatchers were advised that DEMSI does not expect to have a third ambulance in service today.
The city's two licensed ambulance services can choose what 12 hours they will operate the third ambulance during the course of the day.
The other ambulance service, First Response, had three ambulances online at 12:30 p.m. One broke down on Interstate 565 this morning.
Welty said DEMSI has fallen short of the minimum number of ambulances every day since Friday, when a work stoppage by employees took all their ambulances offline for about three hours.
"It's obvious we have a problem with DEMSI that needs to be resolved," Welty said.
He declined to comment on ways to resolve the problem until an ongoing investigation by Decatur Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief Ted McKelvey, the EMS coordinator, is complete.
McKelvey did not immediately respond to calls today. Last week, he said the city has an informal arrangement with the not-for-profit ambulance service Huntsville Emergency Medical Services Inc. that allows the city to request assistance if too few ambulances are available for emergency calls.
DEMSI operations manager Frankie Thaxton did not immediately return calls today. DEMSI attorney Barney Lovelace declined comment until he could speak to management.
Eric Fleischauer can be reached at 256-340-2435 or eric@decaturdaily.com. Follow on Twitter @DD_Fleischauer.
Copyright 2014 - The Decatur Daily, Ala.
