Kimberly residents concerned about EMT response times

1 year ago 30

THAT YOU’VE GOT SOMEBODY WITHIN A FEW MINUTES TO GET TO YOU. FINDING A SPEEDY RIDE TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM COULD PROVE CHALLENGING FOR SOME. JEFFERSON COUNTY RESIDENTS. THANKS FOR JOINING US AT FIVE. I’M GUY RAWLINGS AND I’M SHERI FALK, KIMBERLY AND MORRIS RESIDENTS ARE SEEING A CHANGE IN THE WAY THEIR 901. 11 CALLS FOR MEDICAL EMERGENCIES ARE HANDLED. AND NOW A PRIVATE AMBULANCE SERVICE WILL BE DEALING WITH THOSE CALLS AND RESIDENTS WORRY RESPONSE TIMES WILL BE TOO LONG. WVTM13’S LISA CRANE JOINS US LIVE IN KIMBERLY. WHAT CAUSED THE CHANGE, LISA. WELL, BASICALLY IT ALL BOILS DOWN TO MONEY. WARRIOR IS JUST NORTH OF KIMBERLY AND MORRIS AND ITS FIRE DEPARTMENT HAS ITS OWN TRANSPORT SERVICES. SO FOR A WHILE NOW THEY HAVE BEEN HANDLING EMERGENCY MEDICAL TRANSPORTS FOR THESE TWO COMMUNITIES. WELL, NOW THEY WANT KIMBERLY AND MORRIS TO HELP FOOT THE BILL. AND THAT’S THE PROBLEM. WHEN YOU OR SOMEONE YOU LOVE IS HAVING A MEDICAL EMERGENCY AND YOU NEED HELP FAST. WE’D ALL LIKE TO THINK THAT HELP WOULD ARRIVE IN TIME. IF YOU’RE LAYING HERE HAVING A HEART ATTACK, CARDIAC ARREST, I MEAN, YOU WOULD LIKE TO KNOW THAT YOU’VE GOT SOMEBODY WITHIN A FEW MINUTES TO GET TO YOU. AND FROM MY UNDERSTANDING, THAT COULD BE A FEW MINUTES TO A LONG TIME, 45, 50 MINUTES AN HOUR, DEPENDING ON WHERE THE AMBULANCE COMES FROM OR PARAMEDICS COME FROM. THIS LONGTIME KIMBERLY RESIDENT IS WORRIED BECAUSE WARRIOR FIRE DEPARTMENT WILL NO LONGER TRANSPORT FOLKS FROM KIMBERLY AND MORRIS DURING A MEDICAL EMERGENCY UNLESS THE TWO COMMUNITIES CAN PAY $42,000 A YEAR EACH TO HELP COVER THE COSTS OF TRANSPORTS MADE MONEY, EVERYONE WOULD BE DOING IT. THE PROBLEM CITIES LIKE KIMBERLY AND TOWNS LIKE MORRIS AND WARRIORS. YOU JUST DON’T DON’T NECESSARILY HAVE THE SCALE TO MAKE IT WORK. THE LEADERS OF BOTH COMMUNITIES HAVE DECIDED TO INSTEAD USE A PRIVATE AMBULANCE SERVICE BASED IN GARDENDALE AND OTHER PARTS OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, BUT THAT COULD BRING LONGER RESPONSE TIMES. EVEN IF YOU YOU CHARGE EACH HOUSEHOLD $50 A YEAR. YOU KNOW, I MEAN, I DON’T KNOW IF THAT WOULD BE A GOOD NUMBER, BUT I’LL PAY IT, YOU KNOW, TO KNOW SOMEBODY’S GOING TO BE HERE WITHIN A FEW MINUTES. KIMBERLY’S MAYOR SAYS THEY’LL SEE HOW IT WORKS AND IF RESPONSE TIMES SUFFER, THEY CAN ALWAYS REVAMP THEIR OPTIONS. THIS ISN’T THE END OF THE WORLD AND THE END OF OUR WORKING RELATIONSHIP. AND, YOU KNOW, WE WOULD LIKE TO TO LOOK FORWARD TO MAYBE GETTING BE ABLE TO GET BACK TO TO THEIR DOING TRANSPORT. BUT WE JUST ALL NEED TO MAKE THE NUMBERS WORK FOR OUR INDIVIDUAL SITUATION AS MAYOR. ELBA SAYS, THERE’S A LOT OF MISINFORMATION FLOATING AROUND OUT THERE ON SOCIAL MEDIA, SO HE ENCOURAGES ANYONE WITH ANY QUESTIONS OR CONCERNS TO COME TO THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING HERE IN KIMBERLY. IT’S AUGUST 28TH AT 630. THE TOWN HALL MEETING IN MORRIS IS NEXT TUESDAY, THE 22ND

Warrior will no longer respond to 911 medical calls in Kimberly or Morris

Finding a speedy ride to the emergency room could prove challenging for some Jefferson County residents. Those in Kimberly and Morris are seeing a change in the way their 911 calls for medical emergencies are handled. Now a private ambulance service will be dealing with those calls, and residents worry response times will be too long. Basically, this all boils down to money. Warrior is the next community north of Kimberly and Morris, and its fire department has its own transport service. So, for a while now, they've been handling emergency medical transports for these two communities. But now, they want Kimberly and Morris to help foot the bill, and that's the problem. When you or someone you love is having a medical emergency, and you need help fast, we'd like to think help would arrive in time. Longtime Kimberly resident Bill Philpot says, “If you're laying here having a heart attack, cardiac arrest, I mean, you would like to know that you've got somebody within a few minutes to get to you. And from my understanding, that could be a few minutes to a long time, 45, 50 minutes or an hour, depending on where, you know, the ambulance comes from, or the paramedics come from.” Philpot is worried because Warrior Fire Department will no longer transport folks from Kimberly and Morris during a medical emergency unless the two communities can pay $42,000 a year each, to help cover the costs.“If transports made money, everyone would be doing it. The problem cities like Kimberly and towns like Morris and Warrior is you just don't necessarily have the scale to make it work,” Kimberly Mayor Bob Ellerbrock said.The leaders of both communities have decided to instead use a private ambulance service based in Gardendale and other parts of Jefferson County. But that could bring longer response times. Philpot says, “Even if you, you know, charge each household $50 a year, you know, I mean, I don't know if that would be a good number, but I'll pay it, you know, to know somebody's going to be here within a few minutes.” Kimberly's mayor says they'll see how it works, and if response times suffer, they can re-evaluate their options.“This isn't the end of the world and the end of our working relationship. And, you know, we would like to look forward to maybe be able to get back who they're doing transport. But we just don't need to make the numbers work for our individual situations,” Ellerbrock said.Ellerbrock says there's a lot of misinformation floating around on social media, so he encourages anyone with questions or concerns to come to the city council meeting on Aug. 28 at 6:30 p.m. The town hall meeting for Morris is Aug. 22 at 6 p.m.

KIMBERLY, Ala. —

Basically, this all boils down to money. Warrior is the next community north of Kimberly and Morris, and its fire department has its own transport service. So, for a while now, they've been handling emergency medical transports for these two communities. But now, they want Kimberly and Morris to help foot the bill, and that's the problem.

When you or someone you love is having a medical emergency, and you need help fast, we'd like to think help would arrive in time. Longtime Kimberly resident Bill Philpot says, “If you're laying here having a heart attack, cardiac arrest, I mean, you would like to know that you've got somebody within a few minutes to get to you. And from my understanding, that could be a few minutes to a long time, 45, 50 minutes or an hour, depending on where, you know, the ambulance comes from, or the paramedics come from.” Philpot is worried because Warrior Fire Department will no longer transport folks from Kimberly and Morris during a medical emergency unless the two communities can pay $42,000 a year each, to help cover the costs.

“If transports made money, everyone would be doing it. The problem cities like Kimberly and towns like Morris and Warrior is you just don't necessarily have the scale to make it work,” Kimberly Mayor Bob Ellerbrock said.

The leaders of both communities have decided to instead use a private ambulance service based in Gardendale and other parts of Jefferson County. But that could bring longer response times. Philpot says, “Even if you, you know, charge each household $50 a year, you know, I mean, I don't know if that would be a good number, but I'll pay it, you know, to know somebody's going to be here within a few minutes.”

Kimberly's mayor says they'll see how it works, and if response times suffer, they can re-evaluate their options.

“This isn't the end of the world and the end of our working relationship. And, you know, we would like to look forward to maybe be able to get back who they're doing transport. But we just don't need to make the numbers work for our individual situations,” Ellerbrock said.

Ellerbrock says there's a lot of misinformation floating around on social media, so he encourages anyone with questions or concerns to come to the city council meeting on Aug. 28 at 6:30 p.m. The town hall meeting for Morris is Aug. 22 at 6 p.m.

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