BAKERSVILLE — Mitchell County Commissioners Matthew “Vern” Grindstaff and Jeff Harding questioned a representative from the county’s new EMS provider, Lifeguard, about why there are no ventilators and fewer IV pumps on Mitchell County’s emergency vehicles during the regular meeting of the commissioners on Monday, Oct. 5.
According to Regional Director of Global Medical Response Dempsey Whitt, it is not typical for purely 911 EMS systems, which is what Mitchell County has, to carry ventilators or IV pumps on every vehicle.
As of Oct. 5, Whitt said the company will have one ventilator at a central location which emergency vehicles can pick up for patient non-emergent or facility transport situations. He said with the low number of non-emergent transports in the county, there’s no real need to keep the equipment on the trucks.
Harding asked Whitt what paramedics would do if they had a patient in Buladean who required a ventilator, but they didn’t have it on the truck.
“The only patients we transport on a ventilator are the patients who are already on a ventilator at the hospital,” Whitt replied. “We have a bag valve mask that would be used until they get to the hospital and that’s what 911 services use across the country.”
This excuse did not sit well with Harding nor Grindstaff.
Grindstaff said he knew when they left Mission Health, the former EMS provider, they would be making some sacrifices, but said he was disappointed with how Lifeguard was performing thus far.
“We wanted everything, clinically speaking, on those trucks that Mission had on those trucks,” Grindstaff said. “Every Mission truck that we had had a ventilator on it. Every Mission truck that we had had two IV pumps on it. That’s what I expect. That’s what I want for our citizens. They deserve it.”
Grindstaff acknowledged IV pumps and ventilators were not specifically mentioned in the contract made with Lifeguard and it didn’t spell out “apples to apples” but that was the agreement he understood they had.
Whitt noted they have two IV pumps, one each on two of the vehicles. However, Grindstaff pointed out they had three vehicles in service, so they should have at least three IV pumps.
The two commissioners also noted their unhappiness with the striping and lettering on the ambulances.
“I know in the grand scheme that this is maybe childish, but your striping doesn’t look good,” Grindstaff said. “It’s cut off on the corners and jagged. It’s not even a straight line...You can’t even see ‘Mitchell County’ on the side of it because it’s ghost letters. It doesn’t even show up. It’s almost like it’s been purposely hidden that it’s a Mitchell County unit. I think that we deserve better than that.”
Grindstaff added he did not doubt the paramedics were capable of doing their jobs, but said he no longer had a sense of pride for their EMS services.
“I was proud of our trucks when they Mission trucks,” Grindstaff said. “They looked good, they had great service. I’m sure our paramedics can do everything that needs to be done, but they need the proper equipment to do it with. We wanted apples for apples and that’s what we expect.”
Whitt said he would try to fix the striping on the vehicles and would speak with his supervisors about what he could do about the equipment on the ambulances. Grindstaff asked him to get back with the commissioners later that same week.
In an email on Oct. 15, County Manager Tim Greene said Lifeguard had put a ventilator and an IV pump in place for use and he suspected there will be further conversations.
On Oct. 16, Harding told the News-Journal they would hopefully have a meeting before the board’s next regular session on Nov. 2.
Harding also said he had received a handful of complaints from local residents about the new EMS services and something would need to change going forward.
Lifeguard took over as the county’s EMS provider in July after the contract with Mission Health ran out at the end of June. In a four-to-one vote, with Harding voting no, the board chose Lifeguard as the new provider at their regular session on March 3.
Nearly all commissioners noted the decision came down to money.
“Mitchell County is tight with money,” Commissioner Danny Burleson said in March. “We’ve got to look at that. It’s strictly the money. It’s nothing to do with any other thing.”
The five-year contract with Lifeguard will cost the county $1.358 million annually.
In the short time they have been the county’s EMS provider, this is the second time Lifeguard has been met with discontentment from commissioners.
In the Board’s regular session in August, Whitt explained they could not provide Mitchell County with brand new ambulances due to the Ford Motor Company shifting production to ventilators rather than trucks due to the pandemic.
Instead, Lifeguard acquired used vehicles from Mission Health and updated the vehicles to accommodate their stretchers.
Both Grindstaff and Harding expressed their displeasure about the lack of new vehicles at these meetings, but said they understood it was difficult due to the pandemic.