A Letter to Editor Opinion Piece on Ambulance and EMS Shortages

What should you do when you dial 911 for the help of an ambulance but there is no response or waits so long until an ambulance arrives that either you, or a family member suffers further harm or even suffers death? This is what happens to many people today living in Calhoun County. For a long time, the rural parts of the county been afflicted with lengthy ambulance response times. But, even the most densely populated areas, like the majority of the country are seeing lower EMS providers remaining in the field, fewer new EMS providers who graduate from training and lower compensations paid of EMS services, which means less ambulances on the road. The compensation for EMS professionals remains extremely low, with paramedics generally earning less than 20 bucks an hour. EMTs typically earn under 13- 15 dollars per hour. The local EMS services also fail us by prioritizing profit over the quality of their response time and service. In the past, Anniston EMS sent a letter to the City of Weaver stating they will no longer provide service at their EMS station located in Weaver however, ambulances will arrive from the city of Anniston. This significantly increased the risk of dying for anyone who experiences cardiac arrest or suffers from any other medical or trauma emergency within Weaver or the surrounding areas of Saks which were covered by the ambulance station. It is important to note that within Weaver there is a single volunteer fire department. They don’t handle EMS calls, so Anniston EMS is the only responder for those emergency calls. Consider the time it takes to travel from the main Anniston EMS Station located on Noble Street to downtown Weaver or to the areas in the outer reaches in the town. The two school are within the Weaver region and it would take about the same amount of time to respond when any child in either of the schools is in need of assistance. It’s time for citizens and elected officials to look seriously into the EMS healthcare crisis that is now upon us. It is the time to examine which agencies offer the most efficient services to our citizens focusing on the quality of services versus the personal gain. We need to invest in both our volunteer and paid emergency services in order to ensure that we receive prompt and reliable emergency medical care to our communities. We owe it to our families, ourselves as well as our children and our communities.