Augusta reaches stopgap deal for ambulance service

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – A day after metropolis leaders rejected a contract with the town’s ambulance service supplier, they went to a month-to-month short-term take care of the corporate to keep away from a niche in service.

The Augusta Fee unanimously accepted a month-by-month take care of Gold Cross Emergency Medical Providers. It will price $250,000 at first, then $150,000 every subsequent month.

The cash supply will proceed to be American Rescue Plan funds.

Not every thing is ironed out simply but. The beginning time is unsure however quickly. Plus metropolis leaders might want to test with attorneys to see if the deal is authorized to proceed with.

The month-to-month take care of Gold Cross will expire upon designation of a brand new supplier by the state and when that supplier is able to begin.

The choice got here throughout an emergency assembly of the fee that started at 3 p.m. Wednesday.

The fee on Tuesday voted down a contract with Gold Cross after the corporate sought substantial subsidies – on the order of an preliminary $2 million, then $2 million extra per yr – from the town to proceed working right here. Gold Cross blamed rising prices and the variety of sufferers who don’t pay.

Gold Cross has already surrendered its emergency medical companies zone, and its duties will finish Jan. 31.

The state is not going to enable the town to go with out an EMS supplier, Mayor Garnett Johnson mentioned, so state-supported service suppliers can be designated for Augusta, probably from a number of elements of the state.

“We’d like to have the ability to present accountable ambulance service as individuals name 911. They should have faith that they’re going to be responded to in a well timed method. Proper now, we don’t have a plan,” Johnson mentioned after Tuesday’s determination.

Steven Vincent with Gold Cross says the zone can solely be open for 10 days after which it closes. That might not be sufficient time for prolonged negotiations with a possible new supplier.

And that’s the place the short-term deal could assist out.

Augusta doesn’t have the assets proper now to basically function by itself with out an EMS supplier.

However many marvel if the Augusta Hearth Division may sometime tackle the function of Richmond County’s main EMS supplier because it has previously.

The Augusta Skilled Firefighters Affiliation tells us whereas it’s not out of the query, there’s numerous work to be executed earlier than the group commits.

The group mentioned in a press release that leaders hoped an settlement might be reached with Gold Cross.

“Sadly, that was not the case and is trigger for concern,” the assertion mentioned. “We’ll proceed help the continuing efforts resolve this concern and help in anyway doable to make sure correct {and professional} EMS companies for the residents of Augusta.”

The group says it will help an emergency medical service run by the Augusta Hearth Division provided that it was a separate division throughout the division.

“The earlier administration’s try to combine the 2 essentially completely different companies clearly illustrated the problems of staffing, funding, and recruitment that every division faces,” the group mentioned. “We’re simply now overcoming the ramifications of that individual in poor health suggested determination.”

The group says it misplaced 300 staff the final time this occurred in a discipline already struggling to recruit and retain employees.

One of many largest issues of the group is an impact on fireplace response if a separate division of the division isn’t created particularly for emergency medical companies.

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