Calhoun County, AL – We believe that all our residents deserve to voice their opinions. All opinions are from the writer and are not the opinion of Calhoun County Journal. Please feel free to include your name or post anonymously. We will not posts threats or accusations. We encourage reader interaction with this news platform.
Date Submitted December 6, 2023
Submitted by An Anonymous Reader
Dear Editor,
What will do you when you dial 911 in need of an ambulance and no one comes or it takes so long for an ambulance to arrive that you or your family member experience further harm, or even die? This is the reality for many today in Calhoun County. For a long time the rural areas of the county have lived with long ambulance response times. However, even the more populated areas like much of the country now see less EMS providers staying in the field, less new EMS providers graduating from training, less reimbursements for EMS services, and thus less ambulances in service. Pay for EMS providers remains very low with even Paramedics usually making less than 20 dollars an hour. EMTs often make less than 13-15 dollars an hour. Our local EMS services are also failing us by placing profit over quality of service and response times. Recently, Anniston EMS sent a letter to the City of Weaver stating they would no longer be providing response from their station in Weaver but that ambulances would respond from downtown Anniston. This greatly increased the chance of death for anyone who goes into cardiac arrest or has any other serious trauma or medical emergency in Weaver or the areas of Saks that were serviced by this EMS station. In Weaver there is only a volunteer fire department and they do not run EMS calls thus Anniston EMS is the only response agency for those calls. Think of how long it takes to drive from the main Anniston EMS Station on Noble Street to downtown Weaver or the areas that are on the outskirts of the city. There are two schools in the Weaver jurisdiction and it will take that same 15-20 minutes to respond if a child at either school needs help. It is time for our community members and our elected leaders to take a serious look at the EMS healthcare crisis that is upon us. It is time to look at what agencies will provide the best services to our citizens focused on quality of service versus personal profit. We must invest in our paid and volunteer emergency services to ensure we have prompt and quality emergency medical services for our communities. We owe this to ourselves, our families, our children, and our communities.
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