Published Dec. 14 in the Sentinel News

A move for Shelby County EMS?

By MONICA NEWTON TATE
Sentinel-News Staff Writer

SHELBYVILLE — Fiscal Court magistrates have been discussing moving EMS headquarters from Hospital Drive, near Jewish Hospital, to a location on Mount Eden Road.

But the three magistrates on the EMS committee have not agreed if the move is appropriate, and EMS Director Tommy Sampson said the paramedic service has needs greater than re-locating its main station.

Three 24-hour paramedic units and one 8 a.m.-to-5 p.m. unit serve the county now -- not enough personnel for an effective emergency operation, Sampson said.

"We've been stressed with what we have for quite some time," Sampson said. "Fiscal Court has not seen it necessary to add another crew, so we've got to make do with what we've got."

He said the units are called out "bam, bam, bam, bam" on a near daily basis. During a recent interview, Sampson said all trucks were out on calls. If another emergency were to come in, Sampson would need to scramble.

EMS perpetually scrambles when all units are gone, by either soliciting the services of administrative employees, who are trained, or by putting a call out on the radio, asking off-duty EMS workers to rush to headquarters.

"We wing it, but we always make it," Sampson said. "I don't think anybody who ever called for an ambulance said they didn't make it." Perhaps its success is the reason its needs "are way down on the priority list," Sampson speculated.
He also said paramedics are not paid enough -- something Sampson passionately preached to magistrates in 1999 during a 2005 Plan meeting for county emergency services.

Then, as now, he loses employees because of low salary, combined with long hours. A recent paramedic left the department to join the sheriff's office.
"I have a problem with a deputy sheriff making more money when our paramedics have to go to school for two years and be certified and they're making less money," Sampson said.

While Sampson said Fiscal Court's priority for EMS's $1.3 million budget should be higher salaries and increased personnel, magistrates on the EMS committee have instead been occupied with moving the headquarters.

Sampson said the HQ has been cramped, but with a unit moving out to the new EMS substation in Simpsonville, the problem will not be as severe.

The location county government is considering is near the Shelbyville Fire Station #2 on Mount Eden Road, near the new White Castle. But the land, zoned for commercial, isn't cheap.

Is new location EMS Eden?

Beyond expense, Magistrate Bob Walters, who sits on the EMS committee, said he has doubts whether that location is best for EMS.

"It's moving EMS out of the central part of the city, where that population is," Walters said. "As a magistrate for the city, that's a big concern for me."

Also, Walters said many EMS runs generate from the hospital, when patients are taken from Jewish to other locations. A crew would have to drive on Mount Eden Road to the hospital and back for each of these runs.

Sampson said about 30 percent of runs do originate from the hospital. He called being near the hospital "handy," but was unsure on whether it would be best to renovate the current headquarters or to build a new HQ on Mount Eden Road.
In either location, traffic would be a problem.

A traffic-impact study done earlier this year by traffic engineer Diane Zimmerman for a different project behind the firehouse said that the exit from that project to Mount Eden Road would operate at an unsafe, level.

Firefighters at Station #2 said that they have trouble exiting onto Mount Eden Road, mainly because drivers won't get out of the way of fire trucks.

Sampson said the same problem exists on Midland Trail. When emergency vehicles are exiting from Hospital Drive, many drivers refuse to grant paramedics right of way.

The solution, Sampson said, is to install a traffic light at either location. It would not burn all the time, but be activated by dispatch and stop traffic only when emergency vehicles pulled out of the road.

Magistrate Cordy Armstrong, who is chairman of the EMS committee, said such a traffic light has been discussed, but "they're expensive," he said. "It's awfully hard to get a traffic light put up."

To move the EMS headquarters, the EMS committee is now applying for a grant. Armstrong would not comment on the specifics of the grant, including how much it was, except to say it is for capital projects, and there is a "50/50 chance" of getting it.

Armstrong said the money could be used for renovation of the current headquarters or to buy land and build a new headquarters. He said the committee would study both locations, including asking for traffic-impact studies.

The whole court will eventually decide on the fate of EMS locations.

Ideally, Sampson said there should be a centralized location, probably where the station is now, and two substations -- the one in Simpsonville that Sampson fought for years and one in the Waddy/Clayvillage area for the eastern part of the county.

As far as his crucial issues -- getting new personnel and higher salaries -- Sampson has talked to EMS committee members, Armstrong said, but no action has been taken. The HQ debate and whether to buy a new ambulance for the fleet of eight have been at the top of the committee's list.

Magistrate Tony Carriss, who serves on the EMS committee, said if Sampson has problems with personnel, "He needs to take those issues to the EMS committee and not to the newspaper."

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