Grady_emt
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I know there are some vollie services, some county services, some hospital based services, but when providing 911 service, does your agency recieve subsidies from the local government (county/city/state) to compenseate for uncompensated costs of care for the indidgent?
Looking for a two part answer, first is what type agency are you (911 response required), and second if you recieve a subsidy who is the one that provides it.
I ask this because Fulton County has recently cut all EMS funding to both Grady EMS covering the City of Atlanta, and Rural Metro who covers the rest of the county. The county also told the various cities in the county that EMS was "the responsibilty of the individual city to provide". A portion of this funding was to provide extra staffing and units to reduce response time from 12 minutes (state suggested) to 8 minutes for emergency calls. Without this additional funding, we are going to have to reduce the number of available units on teh streets and are expecting upwards of a 30 minute emergency response time as there will be no units available and calls holding 88% of the time.
As an employee of Grady EMS, I have received a copy of the "EMS Funding Elimination" Impact study presented by Grady EMS to leaders of the City of Atlanta (COA), Fulton County, The State government, as well as members of the Business Community here in Atlanta. Representatives from Grady EMS have been presenting this to the COA's Neighborhood Planning Units (NPU's) to show the local impact of the cutting of EMS funding to GEMS and RMA. Conventions may not choose to come to COA any longer, when presented that it will take upwards of 30 minutes for an ambulance to arrive should one of their patrons require one. The Super Bowl, Final Four, All-Star games, the ING Marathon and many other events may all re-consider coming to Atlanta when presented with this information
In a recent GEMS department meeting, Pamela Stephenson C.E.O. of Grady Health System, Greg Tindall C.O.O. of GHS, and Timothy Jefferson General Counsel to GHS were present to present some information to the employees of EMS Department. Mr. Jefferson advised that after reading the State law regarding EMS funding in a county, that the state, county, or an individual city is financially responsible for providing EMS service to its residents. Many counties provide this service with significant taxpayer money supplements (as outlined in figure 3 of the study), and this is the portion of money that FulCo Commission has elected to discontinue without consulting any of the entities that would be effected.
If you are a resident of Fulton County, this issue will affect you! Not only will the City of Atlanta suffer, all of Fulton County will. Cardiac arrest survivability will be non-existent; strokes will be more debilitating, heart attacks will be more serious, morbidity (serious injuries) and mortality (death) from traumatic events such as shootings, stabbings, car accidents, assaults, even Grandma falling down will increase.
Recent Atlanta Journal Constitution article
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/ems04061.html?cxntlid=inform_artr
Looking for a two part answer, first is what type agency are you (911 response required), and second if you recieve a subsidy who is the one that provides it.
I ask this because Fulton County has recently cut all EMS funding to both Grady EMS covering the City of Atlanta, and Rural Metro who covers the rest of the county. The county also told the various cities in the county that EMS was "the responsibilty of the individual city to provide". A portion of this funding was to provide extra staffing and units to reduce response time from 12 minutes (state suggested) to 8 minutes for emergency calls. Without this additional funding, we are going to have to reduce the number of available units on teh streets and are expecting upwards of a 30 minute emergency response time as there will be no units available and calls holding 88% of the time.
As an employee of Grady EMS, I have received a copy of the "EMS Funding Elimination" Impact study presented by Grady EMS to leaders of the City of Atlanta (COA), Fulton County, The State government, as well as members of the Business Community here in Atlanta. Representatives from Grady EMS have been presenting this to the COA's Neighborhood Planning Units (NPU's) to show the local impact of the cutting of EMS funding to GEMS and RMA. Conventions may not choose to come to COA any longer, when presented that it will take upwards of 30 minutes for an ambulance to arrive should one of their patrons require one. The Super Bowl, Final Four, All-Star games, the ING Marathon and many other events may all re-consider coming to Atlanta when presented with this information
In a recent GEMS department meeting, Pamela Stephenson C.E.O. of Grady Health System, Greg Tindall C.O.O. of GHS, and Timothy Jefferson General Counsel to GHS were present to present some information to the employees of EMS Department. Mr. Jefferson advised that after reading the State law regarding EMS funding in a county, that the state, county, or an individual city is financially responsible for providing EMS service to its residents. Many counties provide this service with significant taxpayer money supplements (as outlined in figure 3 of the study), and this is the portion of money that FulCo Commission has elected to discontinue without consulting any of the entities that would be effected.
If you are a resident of Fulton County, this issue will affect you! Not only will the City of Atlanta suffer, all of Fulton County will. Cardiac arrest survivability will be non-existent; strokes will be more debilitating, heart attacks will be more serious, morbidity (serious injuries) and mortality (death) from traumatic events such as shootings, stabbings, car accidents, assaults, even Grandma falling down will increase.
Recent Atlanta Journal Constitution article
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/ems04061.html?cxntlid=inform_artr
