Volunteer Fire Departments with emergency response services in Lubbock County are no longer authorized to provide EMS services within the city unless specifically requested by University Medical Center.
As a result, those departments have laid off a large portion of their staff.
“It’s the darkest day I’ve had in public service in 31 years,” West Carlisle Volunteer Fire Department Chief Tim Smith said.
Smith showed EverythingLubbock.com an email from UMC Health System that states “Effective May 1, 2017, UMC EMS will position vehicles in the western portion of Lubbock’s city limit in order to respond more quickly to calls for 911 emergency medical services in this area.”
“Since June of 2001, we’ve been staffed 24/7 without interruption, faithfully responding and faithfully serving our community that we live in,” Smith said. “We respond to 100 to 110 calls by month, transport about 70 to 80 county calls. Now as a result of this, it’s dropped us down to 10 to 20 calls a month, so that’s a big change.”
Smith said a decrease in calls creates a decrease in funding for their station.
“We’re call dependent,” Smith said. “So without the revenue associated with those calls both in and out of the city limits of Lubbock we’re not able to maintain funding to staff. So as a result on May 10th I had to lay 10 people off.”
A City sub-committee changed the set of standards for emergency response services in Lubbock. Since UMC is responsible for the entire area, they are also in charge of making sure those standards are met.
“UMC is supportive of our county EMS partners and the service they provide to their community. In the past five years, UMC has spent $1.375 million for ambulances for the county services, as well as approximately $37,000 annually for supplies. In 2016, UMC paid $349,500 in stipends to county services for calls made on UMC’s behalf.”
“Many of these EMS groups have requested additional funding from UMC in order to continue providing service within the Lubbock city limits,” UMC Spokesperson Eric Finely said. “UMC is exploring options to ensure the provision of high quality care in a fiscally responsible way, though UMC believes the City of Lubbock has provided an excellent model for consideration by establishing response time standards, clinical performance measures, and many other key performance indicators, all designed to easily demonstrate the value of the EMS system.”
“As we consider this request for additional funding our desire is to ensure the highest quality care in the most cost effective way, regardless of the model chosen,” Finely said. “We look forward to meeting with all county EMS groups.”
Now, UMC EMS will be responding to all 911 calls in the county and will reimburse volunteer department if called for back-up.
“So they say as long as they get there in less than 8:59 they’re meeting the standard,” Smith said. “We’ll we’ve forgotten about patient care. We’ve forgot about those folks who need our help and why we’re really here and that’s all we’ve ever served for, our fellow man.”
Smith also argues this decision with jeopardize the safety of resident in the county, when their taxpayer dollars should pay for more.
“I really think that the county residences need to know they’re at risk, at risk of losing their ambulances,” Smith said. “When you all 9-1-1 in the county for an ambulance you will get one but how long is it going to take? That’s the question you need to be asking and the folks that live in the county need to be concerned and need to be voicing their concerns to their elected officials saying we’re paying the same tax we demand and deserve the same coverage.”
West Carlisle Volunteer Fire Department will be holding a Town Hall meeting this Friday June 23 at 7:30 p.m. at their station.
