Floyd County Paramedics

05/15/2014

Redmond EMS will continue to operate according to a letter sent to Redmond EMS employees. It is our understanding they will continue to consider outside vendors but have given the service the opportunity to save themselves by cutting costs and increasing revenues. There has been no solid time frame given to the employees.

We hope that Redmond continues providing service in the community as the competitive nature between Floyd and Redmond inspires both services to achieve excellence in EMS.

05/14/2014

http://floydstraightforward.org/floyd-ems-stay/?utm_source=Blog&utm_medium=greenlink&utm_campaign=EMS%20stays

Back in January, I wrote about our plan to review our ambulance services, also called emergency medical services, or EMS, after being approached by Redmond’s president, John Quinlivan. He had asked if Floyd would consider bringing in an outside EMS

04/21/2014

One commission candidate is not aware of the "ambulance merger". One thinks Floyd EMS is not-for-profit and obviously not aware of the for profit Floyd Healthcare Management entity. Scotty Hancock appears to be the only candidate aware of our situation. We at Floyd County Paramedics solidly put our endorsement behind Scotty and encourage the other candidates to educate themselves about current affairs!

http://johndruckenmiller.com/campaign-watch-county-commission-post-5-republican-candidates-on-splost-dollars-rec-department-cuts-ambulance-service/

This is the first of a series of profiles of the local candidates facing contested races in the May 20 primary. On Tuesday, we'll post the profiles and Q&A packages with the two Democratic chal...

03/10/2014

Nothing to report on the RFP process other than we know that three vendors have shown interest in a consolidation of Floyd, Polk, Chatooga and Redmond EMS. Redmond employees were advised that after the process takes place they would have to apply for jobs at the new service.

Recently Floyd EMS negotiated with Polk commissioners to place a radio console in Polk 911 to ease dispatching Floyd ambulances on request in Polk County. This has raised many questions with various people regarding Floyd EMS's intentions in the process.

The time frame for the process still appears to be mid-May to June for the process to be completed. The upper management at both facilities are very quiet and will not answer questions concerning the vendors.

02/05/2014

https://www.facebook.com/FloydCountySchoolsGA/posts/463279293795518

02/03/2014

This page was originally created to help find Angela Lynch Worsham.

01/31/2014

The conditions of the roads are good this morning. Main roads are perfectly clear and secondary roads are passable but use extreme caution as many still have large ice patches. Parking lots are still perilous in many locations. Drive with extreme caution if it is necessary for you to get out.

01/30/2014

Many new faces joined this page in the past 24 hours and we thank you for your support. This page is to help inform the public of important information regarding EMS (Emergency Medical Service) in Floyd County. We have established a network of career EMT's and Paramedics that have direct concerns over the direction of EMS within our county and once that future is determined we intend to keep the public aware of trends and the ability of our service to adequately cover our response area. We also intend to educate the public with information that could help you in an emergency.

Floyd County Paramedics came to life after it was announced by Floyd Medical Center and Redmond Regional Medical Center that they have entered into a joint agreement to find a single "private" company come into Floyd, Chattooga and Polk counties to provide EMS service. Our county has been blessed with two hospital providing this service since the 80's. They hospitals contend that it is financially irresponsible for them to continue providing this service to the community as both services have began losing insurance reimbursements due to the ACA/ Obamacare insurance changes. So we are basically being "bid out" through a process called "RFP" (Request for Proposal) through a third party mediator. They are basically negotiating for each hospital to get as much service provided for each hospital needs and for the 911 coverage zones.

We at Floyd County Paramedics fear this process will ultimately lower the standard of care within our service areas. The hospitals state their intentions are to provide a company that will continue to provide the same exceptional service that has been the standard for years. We know that this is financially implausible for a private company without severe cuts in salaries and reductions in staffing. They will try to do "More with Less". Ultimately we fear the citizens will feel the changes by increased response times and reduction of EMS skill levels.

Please help us by discussing this with your friends and family. We know we are most unlikely to stop this process but with your help putting this in the spotlight we all can help guide the process. The counties must play a larger roles in this process. As it stands now most representatives of local governance are on record stating they are waiting to see what is going to happen. They need to be more proactive in this process. Each hospital is trying to maintain control of the perspective EMS zones they control now. Is this the best idea since they are choosing to no longer provide the service?

Thanks for your support!

01/29/2014

We would like to have a frank discussion concerning the gridlock that occurred in Rome and Floyd County yesterday. We do not want to belittle anyone nor do we want to directly assign blame to any one entity for this problem. However we must address policy and procedures for school closures by the Floyd BOE.

An extremely dangerous and volatile traffic snarl severely hindered the responses for all emergency responders within the county due to the sudden school closure. Of course it was absolutely necessary for the children to be sent home, however future planning must incorporate disaster planning and an orderly release plan. Further specific protocols for school closures should be instituted and followed consistently. We encourage school officials to meet with first responder agencies to help design and incorporate this plan.

We were lucky yesterday that most accidents were fairly minor and there were no deaths related to this incident. Had they been more severe in nature the inability of responders to move through town expediently would have significantly hindered patient outcomes.

We do thank all of the first response agencies for their professionalism and steadfast resolve to make all of this work yesterday. The schools did a great job making sure no child was left behind and the most of the bus drivers did an exceptional job safely getting the children home in very adverse conditions. Thankfully the very few bus incidents that occurred were relatively minor.

We encourage every citizen to contact your commissioner and let them know the difficulty you had on the streets of Rome and Floyd County yesterday and request that an after-incident-review with recommendations to improve this in the future is completed by the city and county.

01/18/2014

RFP Speculation and Odds

A list is starting to compile of possible services interested in the RFP process. Of course this is speculation since we don't have a voice in our futures being controlled by John Q and Kurt Steunkel. These are the services we have heard will be participating in the bidding process and how we feel they may fit into our EMS model. If you have heard otherwise, please contact us and let us hear your thoughts.

Grady EMS
We feel this is a long-shot because of their history as the primary provider for the City of Atlanta and past financial woes themselves. Lately they have shown an interest in expanding into Dekalb County but lost the contract to AMR. We understand that there was some consideration for a management contract from Grady EMS but no interest in any purchase. Our odds: 0-5%

AMR
We believe AMR is a principle player in the RFP process. Financially they have the ability to move into our market and most likely will offer the most ambulances in our community. Most likely, EMT's and paramedics will see hourly pay increases but will see hours cut greatly therefore reducing the overall salary. AMR will honor the Polk and Chattooga contracts until their expiration and then re-evaluate. In other words, there will be massive cuts at the end of the contract. AMR has been known to push the envelope of their contracts and have failed to meet response time requirements with past contracts. They are the biggest example of: Do more with less. Our odds: 70-80%

Metro Atlanta
Metro Atlanta EMS is another that we feel is a primary player in the RFP process. Financially stable with a strong history in EMS in our state. They have recently moved into Paulding County and currently have contracts with HCA through Cartersville Medical Center. We feel that this would be Redmond's primary choice for RFP considering their history with them. Metro Atlanta may also provide the best salaries for employees but they too will cut hours drastically. They are known to have the "More with Less" ideology too. Several people have advised us that they talked with management at Metro and they have been extremely tight-lipped therefore leading is to believe they absolute are involved. Our odds: 75-80%

Mid-Georgia EMS
Rumored to be the Floyd EMS odds-on-favorite with reasoning so weak we won't reveal them here. We have contacted Mid- Georgia employees and they are utterly clueless. The number one comment from them is ,"Why would they move so far north?" With a majority of the services management and logistical capability deeply entrenched into mid and southern Georgia we do not find it financially logical for Mid-Georgia to be a player. Our odds: 0-1%

National EMS
The service that moved into Athens-Clark County after St. Mary's EMS and Athens General EMS followed the same path as Floyd and Redmond. In this case the deal was thrown into the county governments lap to make the decisions. After seeing the costs that would be forced on the taxpayer the county quickly begged for anyone to come into the county. National EMS answered the call however they are receiving huge stipends from the hospitals around 1.2 million dollars annually. In 2010 they went to the commissioners in Athens-Clark County requesting an additional 100,000 dollars annually from the county. National EMS Director Huey Atkins said, "There is no ambulance service in the state that operates without a subsidy. It cannot be done." Obviously, Mr. Atkins is not well-versed with ambulance service around the State of Georgia as there are many unsubsidized services in our state. We feel National will not have the financial ability without major concessions for monetary support from the hospitals and the county. Our odds: 0-5%

Rural Metro
Rumors have stated they will be interested in the RFP process. However, they are currently in the bankruptcy process and the US Bankruptcy Court is handling all of their financials. This process will not enable them to handle any major financial transactions until there restructuring is complete. Our odds: 0%

These are who we feel are the major players in the RFP process and believe it will most likely come down to a competition between AMR and Metro Atlanta EMS.

01/13/2014

We have been approached by some employees about some negative press involving a private service in central Georgia by the name of Mid-Georgia Ambulance. Among all the rumors and speculation is Mid-Georgia Ambulance may be one of the players being considered in Floyd County. Here are some articles that have been found concerning them.

http://mitchellcountyga.com/deceived-unknowingly-by-county-commissioners-p1125-96.htm

http://thomastontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?avis=LA&date=20131216&category=news&lopenr=312169999&Ref=AR

http://www.mysouthwestga.com/news/story.aspx?id=741546 #.UtQu5sW4tlM

mitchellcountyga.com is your online news source for Mitchell County Georgia news. We serve all of Mitchell County Georgia - Camilla, Pelham, Baconton and Sale City. Up to date local news on Mitchell County GA.com

01/13/2014

In the past 24 hours we have been told that if the joint RFP process fails that Redmond and Floyd EMS will then try individually to broker a contract for EMS service for each service. We have some questions concerning that scenario.

Will each service maintain their zones? Redmond maintaining Armuchee and Cave Spring and Floyd the rest of the county.

Does this mean Redmond will also still be responsible for contracting for Chattooga and Polk County?

We are just trying to clarify the alternative Plan B that we were initially told didn't exist. Is there any possibility that Redmond or Floyd EMS will remain "As Is"?

A more open process involving citizens in the county, the employees of the services and the local government would likely end all of the rumors and speculation concerning this process. We urge you all to continue questioning this process and the players involved.