Displaced Seven Springs EMS needs home of its own
By Steve Herring
Published in News on January 22, 2017 12:30 AM
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News-Argus/SETH COMBS
Seven Springs Area Rescue was forced to relocate to Elroy Fire Station No. 2 after Hurricane Matthew.
The village of Seven Springs has been without its in-town EMS crew for around 100 days.
Its old rescue station is in ruins after Hurricane Matthew-generated flooding devastated the town in October 2016.
The EMS unit that had been housed there has been temporarily relocated just a few miles north of the Neuse River to Elroy Fire Station No. 2 on Dollard Town Road.
Finding a new permanent home for the EMS unit is a priority for Wayne County commissioners. But where that might be has yet to be decided. Nor has a timetable been announced.
During a dueling planning retreat Wednesday, commissioners agreed that a goal should be to develop enhanced EMS service and stations across the county.
However, commissioners want to delay any location decision until a study is completed by Office of Emergency Management Director Mel Powers and his staff.
The study is mapping out the county's EMS stations with a focus on the area each unit can reach within the eight-minute response time goal set by the county.
"Let's look at it logically and take the politics out of this decision," Commissioner Joe Daughtery said. "For us to decide to put a station because a group of individuals wants it here, when it should be there to have the maximum results -- take the politics out of this thing.
"Let's get the recommendations for the best use of these facilities that will give the shortest amount of time to get to you if you need rescue."
The eight-minute response time to 90 percent of the first-out calls was a goal established when the countywide paramedic service was first considered in 2000, said Commissioner Joe Gurley, former director of the county's Office of Emergency Services.
"You cannot guarantee 90 percent-plus for all calls -- it is first-out calls," Gurley said. "In Mount Olive, or Seven Springs, or Rosewood, or wherever you are at, if that station is called out, the second callout should not fit into the equation of the eight-minute call time."
But Commissioners Ray Mayo and Ed Cromartie voiced concerns about long response times in their respective communities and that stations for the western, northern and southern parts of the county should be the board's No. 1 priority.
"My district, we have talked about this for a couple of years about emergency service in the western part of the county, especially from Rosewood to Little River (Fire Station)," Mayo said. "The ETA in those areas is in most cases not acceptable on the average. We have talked about, over the last couple of years, about another station out in that area."
Commissioner Wayne Aycock agreed that the northwest area is a priority.
"But you have to keep in mind, we lost a station in the southern end," he said. "Sometimes priorities change. At least that area in the northwest part of the county is covered. But right now there is an unfortunate gap in the southern end."
Mayo said he was not suggesting the county needs to change priorities.
"What I am saying is that a couple of years ago we had a cookie-cutter drawing of stations that we could build across the county when it was necessary as the result of a survey," he said. "The survey, this has been going on for two years, and I am just asking a question. I am not saying move it to the top.
"What I am saying is that I would like to see us maybe put 'oomph' in taking a look at that. When you have a 16- and sometimes 17-minute ETA to somebody's house, that's not going to be acceptable Whenever this study comes back, we don't need to sit on it because it is affecting citizens in Wayne County in certain areas."
Board Chairman Bill Pate said he agreed, especially in light of the flooding that forced the Seven Springs EMS to relocate.
"This is the right time to go ahead and do this," he said.
"If you are going to do it (stations) for three areas, you need to have the plan and implement it across the county," Daughtery said.
The county has $250,000 a year for three consecutive years built into its capital improvement plan for new stations, and one of those is in the current year, Wood said.
"So if we make a decision on Seven Springs, we are ready to move," he said.
One change since the budget was approved was the closing of Johnston Ambulance Service and the county adding vehicles to assume some of that load, Wood said.
The county needs to add space to handle the additional ambulances, he said.
"So on some of these (stations) we may be adding another bay, which may increase the cost a little bit, but not much," Wood said. "But I wanted you all to be aware of that because that is a change since we did the budget and put $250,000 in there."
The cost of building the station is small; personnel is more expensive, Wood said.
The stations with added space will cost approximately $325,000, and three new locations are needed, Wood said.
"We run two-person crews, and they are 24 (hours) on and 48 off," Wood said. "It takes a minimum of six people to man that station. It actually costs more than that, because at some point some of those people are going to be on vacation, sick leave, jury duty or whatever. Then we have to bring in some part-time people."
That is to man one station, he said.
"But if you are looking at two more in addition to that -- that is 12 more people," Wood said.
"If you can get me to the hospital then go ahead and spend it," Mayo said.
Wood said the additional personnel would add about $600,000 to the budget. Plus the county would have to buy ambulances, he said.
"Not a problem," Cromartie said