AMR Red Alerts Plaguing Shiloh County

[K. Ross]

And now, we go to a special report on the state of emergency medical care in Shiloh County. 

While the citizens in Crescent Falls, Fort Shannon and Arcadia know a 911 call for an ambulance will result in the life-saving equipment show up to their door, many Shiloh County Citizens are finding less and less that they will be able to rely on that. American Medical Response, the ambulance provider for the citizens of Clinton, Oxnard, as well as throughout the county, for "surge ambulance" protection, has been finding themselves in a case of red-alerts. 

A red alert means that a 911 call has been placed for emergency medical assistance, but no ambulance is available. Over the past few weeks we've discovered that there's been 152 Red Alert periods, meaning that no ambulance was immediately available. When we contacted AMR for comment, they provided the following statement.

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AMR is committed to the well-being and safety of all the citizens in Shiloh County. While we understand that Red alerts are concerning for residents, we want to provide explanation on what this actually means. While no ambulance may be immediately available, in more than half the calls, an AMR ambulance was freed up within 5 minutes to start response to the call. Additionally Fire Departments provide medical first responders to assist when one of AMR's specialist medical first response units are not available. AMR is committed to maintaining staff requirements, and intends to work with the County ERT to increase funding to provide for more EMTs and Paramedics, as well as additional ambulances to reduce red alerts.

While this situation appears to be minimizing, speaking with Teamsters Local 1123, the union attempting to organize paramedics, EMTs and EMRs, for AMR, they say this is just an issue that's part of the larger problem for AMR. The County EMS Budget, which funds 911 ambulance services provided by AMR, Shiloh County Fire, Code Blue EMS, Jackson EMS and the CFU Hospital EMS, is allocated with more than 45% of funds going to AMR, despite having a much lower population. Teamsters Organize Bill Thompson says EMRs make only 25 cents over the minimum wage, and among the highest paid paramedics, salaries only average $24/hr. He says that this is significantly lower than other providers in the area, including County Fire, which creates a high turnover rate, contributing to Red Alerts. Thompson specifically states that wages are the significant driver for high turnover, low staffing rates, and the alarming rate of Red Alerts.

Shiloh County ERT, which handles all 911 calls within the county, advises that if an ambulance provider cannot provide responders to an area, they have a multi level plan which allows for fire departments, as well as other ambulance providers to respond to the emergency calls. 

We will continue to follow this developing story.