A regional EMS consultant said that Crossville and Cumberland County will need to cooperate for a city-based ambulance service to work.
Upper Cumberland Regional EMS Consultant Brian Thompkins met with the Crossville City Council during a work session on Tuesday. Thompkins said if the city were to sign an agreement with the county’s EMS service to share the call volume within the city, it would have a significant impact on the costs to start a city-based ambulance service.
“If you apply for an ambulance license and become the primary emergency provider for the city of Crossville and Cumberland County says, ‘Okay, we are not going to make any transports inside the city,’ you have a lot more transports that somebody has got to take care of than if they agree to transport a part of those patients,” Thompkins said.
Cumberland County EMS Director Chris Miller spoke to the council about the shaky relationship that county EMS has with the city’s paramedics. Miller said the two groups are not on the same page, as there has been a lack of cooperation to cross-train.
“I have no doubt that they are doing the proper training, but there have been protocols that we have changed since we have changed medical directors,” Miller said. “Because the way it’s supposed to work, for first responder goes, is if a city fire paramedic responds to that situation where we have an AMT on a truck, two AMTs on a truck, they need to be proficient in every medication we have on that truck.”
The council asked about abandonment, as the council has received different opinions on what is considered abandonment of a patient. Thompkins said a basic EMT transporting a patient to the hospital is preferred over a critical care paramedic that is looking over a patient.
“Dr. Fox is a well-respected, very experienced physician, but if I fall out in the floor and he does nothing but stand and look over me, his physician license really doesn’t do me any good,” Thompkins said. “So I would much prefer a basic EMT go ahead and transport me to the hospital. That is the problem you all have had in times past. A paramedic asking a BLS unit to stay on scene simply because they are a paramedic, that is a violation of your memorandum of understanding, and it is a known violation of your memorandum of understanding, and thus the city would be liable.”
Thompkins said cooperation between county EMS and the city is a local matter and not a state matter. Thompkins said the state rule says that the medical director for the local primary 911 provider makes decisions on protocols. In this case, the primary 911 provider was Cumberland County EMS.
Mayor RJ Crawford said he thinks it is important for the city to meet with Cumberland County EMS about moving forward.
