Pickens Co. faces possibility of losing ambulance service
PICKENS COUNTY, Ala. (WCBI) – After a brief bright spot, there is once again a cloud over Emergency Medical Care in Pickens County.
In a matter of weeks, they could go from having one 24-hour ambulance serving the county to none.
Manager of the Pickens County Ambulance Service, Vicky McCrory says there was a short-term solution- a subsidy that allowed higher pay for employees, which at first, allowed them to secure a full staff for two ambulances.
In October, a lack of funding brought them back down to one, which McCrory says is not enough to serve the whole county.
Now, there is no more money for the subsidy.
“We have to continue paying the raises, which we can’t afford to do, or cut the employees back to what they were making previously. They have all said that they will not stay if that happens,” McCrory said. “So, we will have no choice but to shut the doors on December the 1st.”
And it’s more than emergency calls that are affected.
“We have people that depend on us to get them back and forth to doctors appointments, dialysis, wound care who are bed bound and can’t go by any other means. And right now, we are not able to provide that,” McCrory said. “These people are missing appointments that could be detrimental to their health.”
McCrory says first responders and Law Enforcement are already doing everything they can do outside of transport.
“They do definitely make a difference by providing first aid until the ambulance can get there,” McCrory said.
Chief Anthony Durrah with the Carrollton Police Department says his team will do everything they can to help save lives.
“We’ve got one ambulance now, if we lose that, this place will become what you call an ambulance desert,” Durrah said. “That means the normal wait time for an ambulance will be 45 minutes to an hour. So, we will have to fill that void until we get emergency service from Columbus, Tuscaloosa, Fayette, or even Greene County. Most of all our officers are first aid certified, and what we’ll do is emergency service like CPR. We have AEDs and we have a LUCAS Device to deal with that type of service for the general public, and that’s what will do.”
A county commissioner tells WCBI they are working diligently to make sure Pickens County has the resources it needs.
WCBI will continue to follow this story and bring you updates as they are available.
