LAURINBURG — Scotland County commissioners will return Monday to a difficult question they have been wrestling with for weeks: How can the county stabilize its struggling EMS department?
During a special called meeting this week, County Manager April Snead outlined the department’s current staffing situation and several options for moving forward. The discussion came after commissioners spent nearly an hour in closed session.
Snead said the county’s EMS department currently has five EMT/paramedic vacancies, with vacancies across all shifts. The assistant director position also is vacant.
The department is organized to operate three ambulances around the clock, but staffing shortages have at times left the county without enough personnel to operate all three. Snead said some employees have worked more than 24 hours straight.
The situation has been further complicated by the resignation of EMS Director Robert Sampson, who also serves as the county’s emergency operations coordinator. Sampson, who has worked for the department for decades, is scheduled to leave the position Oct. 22.
Commissioners will consider the county manager’s recommendations Monday as they determine the next steps for the department. A concrete decision on the future direction of EMS is expected after the board reviews additional information.
“By consensus of all in closed session, this is what I have been directed to do, and we will revisit this again Monday night,” Snead said.
One immediate need is filling the emergency operations coordinator role. Snead recommended appointing the county fire marshal as interim emergency operations coordinator, with the position reporting to the county manager for emergency operations.
The county also would contact North Carolina Emergency Management for support.
“We know we have to have an emergency operations coordinator, so we have somebody locally that we can appoint and satisfy the state requirement, but we also can reach out to North Carolina Emergency Management that will have experienced regional leadership if, in the event we are in hurricane season, something comes up,” Snead said. “We will have somebody that can be here very quickly that can help us with our emergency operations.”
Under Snead’s recommendations, the county finance officer would oversee budget and procurement decisions for EMS, while the human resources department would oversee personnel needs and decisions.
“That is common anytime we have a department head that has resigned,” Snead said.
The county also plans to contact Atrium Health and Cape Fear to discuss providing temporary, on-site EMS management for 90 days. Any outside management would report to the county manager and the county’s medical director.
“We think we need to find a company that we can contract with temporarily to make sure the director’s position is filled while we are searching for a new EMS director,” Snead said.
“We, of course, need somebody that has the qualifications to do that and can come in and can manage our department,” she said.
Snead said she will contact both entities to discuss pricing and what a temporary arrangement would entail.
The county is seeking information on three potential areas of assistance: providing an interim EMS director; providing additional resources to help ensure three ambulances are staffed and operating 24 hours a day; and providing additional resources that could allow the county to operate at least a peak-time ambulance in Wagram.
Snead said she will bring the information gathered from Atrium and Cape Fear back to commissioners at their next meeting.
The discussion follows several weeks of consideration by commissioners about whether the county should continue operating EMS itself or contract the service to an outside provider.
At a September meeting, commissioners heard presentations from several companies after issuing a request for proposals for EMS services. Those included Atrium, MedEx Medical Transport and Cape Fear, as well as AMR.
The proposals came as commissioners considered the possibility of outsourcing or privatizing the county’s EMS operations. Commissioner Clarence McPhatter II ultimately made a motion to end consideration of outsourcing and instead continue working with the county’s existing EMS department. Commissioner Tanya Edge seconded the motion.
The motion passed 4-3, with Edge, Commissioner Darwin Williams, Commissioner Tim Ivey and McPhatter voting in favor. Commissioners Bo Frizzell, Jeff Shelley and Ed O’Neal voted against it.
At that time, commissioners also heard concerns about EMS response times across the county. Response times were reported at about 25 minutes to Marston, 22 minutes in Wagram and 20 minutes in Gibson, while only one area was reported to have a response time under the 14-minute standard.
The board will meet at the County’s Emergency Operations Center at 6 p.m.