Ambulance service complaints in Clay County

CLAY COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Ambulance service is sparking complaints and concerns in Clay County.

City and county leaders are in the process of negotiating with North Mississippi Health Service administrators on the issue.

Leaders said residents are complaining about the availability and response time of ambulances stationed in the county.

North Mississippi Ambulance Services said they staff two ambulances that are based at North Mississippi Medical Center in West Point.

North Mississippi Ambulance Services said ambulances throughout its health care system help each other out.

Some Clay County residents believe that’s causing slower response times in their county.

When there’s an emergency, you expect help to be there within minutes and when there’s someone who is sick or injured, those minutes count.

Clay County Sheriff Eddie Scott said he’s been hearing complaints about too many minutes ticking away while waiting on an ambulance.

“I’ve been getting complaints myself, probably over the last year, not only from citizens, but from our deputies, law enforcement community, you know, just that it seems like it’s taking longer, which it is actually taking longer when you go back and look at the call-runs, but again, it’s not the ambulance crews. They do a fantastic job. It’s just the availability of the vehicle itself.”

North Mississippi Ambulance Services says there are times when an ambulance must leave Clay County to transfer or pick up a patient from another facility.

It also says there are times when their Clay County based ambulance may leave and go to a neighboring county for a call or to assist ambulance crews stationed there.

“When you don’t have but one ambulance or two ambulances covering, depending on the call volume, they can get busy real quick and it’s frustrating for us as first responders, having to wait an additional length of time for an ambulance to come out of another county, so, we just want to make sure that we’ve got ample coverage. We know that anything can happen to where you may need five ambulances at one time. We understand that.”

Scott said in the past, services were pretty quick.

“An ambulance crew, you know, sometimes they take a lot of heat because it took them so long to get there, but I think it’s circumstances beyond their control. Again, the crew that we have that works this area are fantastic. I can’t say enough about them and they are well respected and well loved, but the response time, again, I think it goes back to a management issue and I believe our city and county leaders are in the process of addressing the issues now.”

Scott said if an ambulance does take longer to respond, there are other first responders on scene who can help.

“A lot of our volunteer firefighters for example, they are certified EMT’s, so initially, when there’s accidents, when there’s an event like that, that goes on, they automatically respond out, so you know, even our law-enforcement officers, we’re going to respond or we’re going to perform what we can, as far as, basic medical needs, until an ambulance gets there.”