新媒网 · 跨境数据社区

We have had several questions after we issued a press release on Tuesday. One of the biggest questions is what has caused this issue and we want to be transparent on our current situation. As Chairman Smithey pointed out in his letter, a sudden change of opinion by Wilkes County EMS System Medical Direction has been the culprit of the issues. When we were first notified of our non compliance with NCOEMS call reporting, we immediatley reached out to our software manufacturer and got the ball rolling to fix the issue. This was found to be a software miscommunication between our vendor and NCOEMS, where the reports were being sent but not received successfully. This was corrected quickly and EMS officials and Wilkes County were immediately notified of the same. This time frame was within 10 days of discovering the system disconnect. When we met with those officials in October of 2024 to review the already corrected situation, we were then told that due to a sudden and new interpretation of the ambulance franchise ordinance requirements, we could not function at the ALS level until a new franchise was created with different wording. Medical direction stated that the wording of the franchise ordinance was their sole stipulation that was preventing us from being able to function at ALS level. We are not able to meet the requirements of the new interpretation because we are not able to guarantee a paramedic response 24/7 as we do not have sufficient funding to hire a full time paramedic to be staffed at the rescue squad 24/7. All paramedics on Wilkes Rescue Squad are volunteer and when needed, they drop what they are doing and respond to ensure the citizens of Wilkes County are not without an ambulance available when Wilkes EMS is not able to provide one for their emergency. In order to transport patients in the Wilkes County 911 system, an agency must be in possession of an ambulance franchise ordinance agreement. The original EMS franchise was set in place in 2002. We were awarded a franchise then in conjunction with Wilkes County EMS. Since then, it has been renewed in 2016 and 2021 with no issue. We have been providing the service for 22 years, with no changes to our operational protocol and this has never been an issue until now. When medical direction informed us of their new interpretation, we asked the county in the October meeting to make a simple amendment to the franchise ordinance to allow us to respond immediately at the highest level provider available when no other ambulance is available to respond. This means that if we have a paramedic avalible, they would respond at paramedic level, and if we have an Advanced-EMT avalible, they would respond at the AEMT level. If we have an EMT avalible, then they would respond at the EMT level. Wilkes Rescue Squad only responds to 911 calls with an ambulance if ALL Wilkes EMS units are tied up or unavailable, quite obviously including all on duty paramedics. In these moments there is no guarantee that a paramedic will be avalible from ANY agency in or surrounding Wilkes County. We feel it’s better to get even an EMT level ambulance immediatley to transport you or your family member to the hospital and be there to provide lifesaving interventions, than to have to wait for a paramedic unit for an extended time, possibly resulting in death or preventable injury to you or your family. This solution we proposed is a standard operation in emergency prehospital medicine and is followed in many areas across our state and country. At the same time as we were informed by medical direction about their new interpretation of the franchise ordinance, Wilkes EMS was also in violation of this ordanance as they are now interpreting it. The commissioners recently made an amendment to Wilkes EMS’s franchise ordnance to bring Wilkes EMS back into compliance. Wilkes Rescue Squad, even though we have been waiting since October 2024, we have still not been provided any new franchise ordinance draft to review and sign. This franchise ordinance is the only reason we have been found in violation of our county contract. As stated in the previous letter, we have attempted to have conversation with and negotiate a new franchise ordinance agreement and county contract, yet have had no communication back from the county until the violation notice. And then have been denied being allowed to speak to the county commissioners since. Please, see the below photos for the Ambulance Franchise renewal information.