Risk in Franklin County?
Seventy three miles long, twelve thousand residents, two nursing homes, one hospital, and two ambulances, is Franklin County a danger to your health?
Averaging over two routine ambulance transports from the nursing homes and the hospital each day Franklin County residents live with only one ambulance for over eight hours every day. Residents routinely wait over forty minutes for an ambulance to arrive, forty minutes lying in the dirt suffering, even dying, waiting for an ambulance.
Three years ago the Franklin County Board of Commissioners addressed the problem and solved it by authorizing, purchasing and placing in service a third ambulance. Weems Memorial Hospital which is owned by Franklin County and operates the Franklin County ambulance service took the third ambulance off the road without notifying anyone.
The Franklin County United Fire Fighters, FCUFFA approached the Franklin County Commission in February of this year. The Commission was advised of the lack of emergency ambulance coverage and that the third ambulance was no longer in service. The FCUFFA assumed since the Commission had previously addressed the life threatening problem, and solved it, they would simply place the third ambulance back in service. The current sitting Commissioners that were on the Board three years ago are Commissioners Cheryl Sanders, Smokey Parrish and Bevin Putnal.
The Chairman of the Franklin County Commission Smokey Parrish completely refused to address the needless pain, suffering and death that his Franklin County Constituents are suffering.
The County Administrator Alan Pierce and the Chairman of the Board denied that a third ambulance had ever been placed in service. The Commission minutes were researched and indeed the third ambulance had been authorized by the Commission. Still the Chairman of the Board has refused to place the ambulance back in service. Lack of funds was now the excuse given by the Chairman even though the Commissions discretionary fund has 1.3 million dollars in it.
Commissioner Bevin Putnal then offered at three separate Commission meetings to make a motion to place the third ambulance back in service using the one cent sales surtax to fund it. The Franklin County Attorney Michael Shuler publicly advised the Commission at each meeting that the one cent sales surtax could not be used for the ambulance service. Commissioner Cheryl Sanders read the one cent sales surtax ordinance item # 4 into public record at the next Commission meeting. “Use of the proceeds. Said tax proceeds and any interest accrued thereto shall be expended for the sole purpose of improving the quality and delivery of healthcare by constructing an urgent care facility in Carrabelle first, upgrading the ambulance service, and paying the cost of operations of healthcare infrastructure and services, including the construction and paying debt service on bonds to construct a new public hospital facility to replace Weems Memorial Hospital.” Additionally, previous Commission minutes revealed that the hospital had and is currently using the one cent sales surtax funds to operate the ambulance service. The County Attorney still advised the Commission that one cent sales surtax funds could not be used for the ambulance service.
Only after continuous questioning of the County Attorney by Commissioner Pinki Jackel did Shuler finally admit that the one cent sales surtax was indeed for the ambulance service.
Commissioner Cheryl Sanders motioned to put the ambulance service out to bid, with Commissioners Pinki Jackel and Bevin Putnals support the Franklin County Ambulance service was advertised for bids. The Franklin County Ambulance service was awarded to Lifeguard Ambulance service.
The bid to Lifeguard Ambulance was awarded September 7th, but under Chairman of the Board Commissioner Smokey Parrish’s leadership Lifeguard has not been allowed to begin operations.
At the last Commission meeting September 21st Commissioners Noah Lockley and Smokey Parrish made the motion to have the current Hospital managed ambulance service give the Commission a price on a third Ambulance. Previously the Hospital CEO had publicly given the Commission a quote for a third BLS ambulance, an additional $250.000.00 per year. Commissioners Cheryl Sanders, Pinki Jackel and Bevin Putnal made and passed a motion to let the public deicide what type of Ambulance Service they want in Franklin County. Their will be a Public Hearing October the fifth at five in the afternoon to address the ambulance service.
Lifeguards Proposal to Franklin County for Ambulance Service:
# 1 Two ALS Ambulances 24 hours 7 days a week.
# 2 One ALS Ambulance 7 days a week 8 to 12 hours per day at statistically confirmed peak hours. (When additional Ambulance calls may occur that may require three Ambulances)
# 3 One BLS Ambulance on call 24 hours a day seven days a week which will run the routine transports and respond to emergency situations where an additional Ambulance is needed.
# 4 A Paramedic Supervisor in a quick response vehicle carrying complete ALS equipment 24 hours 7 days a week. Ready to respond 24 hours per day.
Lifeguard has proposed up to Four ALS and One BLS Ambulances making a total of Five Ambulances on duty at any given time Seven days a week when needed.
Our current Ambulance service provides the following;
# 1 Two ALS Ambulances 24 hours 7 days a week.
# 2 One BLS Ambulance ten weekends on St. George per year.
The Hospital has offered to the County Commission publicly to place another BLS ambulance in service for an additional $250,000.00 per year. The current director of the Franklin County ambulance service is a paramedic and does work on the ambulances, his salary is $63,000. The ambulance service employs his wife and daughter, (none live in the County) the pay for the paramedics is almost double (around $50,000 to $60,000) what any other paramedic makes ($32,000 to $36,000) in Florida. Our Franklin County medics average over 800 hours of overtime each year. The service has nineteen employees, only five are Franklin County residents. Local Franklin County residents when they have applied for jobs with our Ambulance service were told the ambulance service is over staffed and they are not needed.
The Hospitals subsidy is now $425,000.00 from the County each year to operate the current Ambulance Service. They also receive over $700,000.00 each year from the one cent sales surtax. The hospital CEO has reported to the County Commission that the hospital is using the one cent sales surtax funds to operate the Ambulance Service in addition to the subsidy. No one knows how much the current ambulance service cost the people of Franklin County.
Franklin County residents are continuing to suffer because of the lack of leadership from our Commission.
This past Saturday the 18th of September at 4:08 in the afternoon a health emergency occurred and an Ambulance was needed on Alligator Point. Franklin County Sheriffs Department dispatch advised that both Franklin County Ambulances were out of the County.
An ambulance from Wakulla County was called by our dispatch. As the Wakulla ambulance was responding to Alligator Point our Franklin County ambulance was observed eating at the Ming Tree in Crawfordville. The Wakulla ambulance transported the patient from Alligator Point. It is unimaginable that the Hospital has a policy that lets our few ambulances dine out of the County thereby leaving us with only one ambulance. On this occasion our Franklin County’s ambulance crews dining experience left all of Franklin County with NO AMBULANCE SERVICE.
Routinely, the ambulance that is stationed in Lanark Village drives to Eastpoint and Apalachicola for supplies, a round trip of over an hour. Another hour and a half when the people of eastern Franklin County will have to suffer forty minutes or more waiting on an ambulance. In a professionally run ambulance service the supplies would be brought to the ambulance enabling the ambulance to stay in its area of responsibility.
Franklin County ambulance transports to Bay and Leon County’s average two and one half hours. Roughly 20% of these transports take up to four, five or even six hours, once again questioning the practices and management of our current ambulance service.
In any kind of Emergency Agency, the Standard Operating Procedure’s (SOP) main goal is to have the response units in there area of there responsibility. When a unit runs an emergency call; in the case of an ambulance, once the patient is delivered the ambulance returns to its zone of coverage as quickly as possible. Once an ambulance is back in its area of responsibility it is again available to answer calls. No fire or ambulance unit would ever consider dining or shopping outside of there area of responsibility.
We have to wonder how long this type of irresponsibility has been going on and how much suffering it has cost us. Our Ambulance Service needs professional management, the people of Franklin County deserves that. Lifeguards Bid is $515,000.00 per year with a guarantee that within 10 years they will not require any subsidy from the County.
The Hospital may be spending $800,000.00 plus each year to operate the current Franklin County Ambulance Service.
Since the Commission was notified in February of the life threatening ambulance deficiencies’ Franklin County residents have continued to suffer.
Franklin County Citizens have died while waiting for an ambulance which was on a routine nursing home transport. Franklin County citizens may have suffered permanent stroke impairments, loss of the use of their arms and legs because the two ambulances were busy, one of which was once again on a routine transport. A stroke patient waited an hour and fifteen minutes for a Franklin County ambulance then was told they could not be transported to Tallahassee. The Franklin County ambulance had to drive into Wakulla County where a Wakulla County ambulance took the patient. As a result of the delayed stroke intervention treatment the patient may have suffered permanent loss of motor control.
Franklin County residents are routinely flown to the hospital on Life Flight. Not because there injuries required the flight but because the Franklin County ambulance refused to transport them out of the County. These same residents have to pay the $9,000.00 for the flight personally because there insurance carriers only pay for what is medically necessary. These are only some of the incidents; there are countless others where Franklin County residents have suffered.
Questions need to be answered at the Public Hearing: Why wasn't the third ambulance immediately placed back in service after the Commission was alerted to its removal? Why did Alan Pierce deny that a third Ambulance had ever been placed in service? Why did the hospital without notifying the Commission take the third ambulance off the road? Why didn't Chairman Smokey Parrish use the Commissions Discretionary fund which has over 1.3 million dollars in it to place the third ambulance back in service? How much are our citizen’s lives worth? Why did the County Attorney Michael Shuler tell the Commissioners that the County could not use the one cent sales surtax for the third ambulance? Why have Alan Pierce and Commissioner Smokey Parrish opposed every effort made by Commissioners' Bevin Putnal, Cheryl Sanders and Pinki Jackel to improve the quality of our ambulance service? Alan Pierce and Commissioner Parrish can certainly postpone addressing our citizens needless suffering, and dying. Hopefully Alan Pierce and Commissioner Smokey Parrish will finally address this issue at the public hearing.
At the last Franklin County Commission meeting September 21st Chairman of the Board Commissioner Smokey Parrish made the following statement; “Steve, since you have been asking for additional Ambulances only two people out of the 12,000 Franklin County Residents have asked me for more than two Ambulances, I have not heard from one single resident other than two people that want more than the two Ambulances that we currently have.”
Please come and support Commissioners Cheryl Sanders, Pinki Jackel and Bevin Putnal as they continue their effort to stop the needless pain, suffering and even death that our Franklin County residents are enduring. Please reserve October 5th at 5 PM at the Courthouse Annex in Apalachicola for the scheduled public hearing on the Ambulance Upgrade. We will need every single person to attend. We need everyone to sign the speakers’ card, when called on; we will need to give our support for the expansion and upgrade of our ambulance service.
Please spread the word, every single person needs to be there, this is a Life or Death Situation.
Sincerely,
Steve Fling
Fire Chief
Alligator Point VFD
.
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