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Surry County Emergency Services Chief Eric Southern brought an issue before the Surry County Board of Commissioners at their meeting Tuesday evening. He asked the board to consider eliminating a fee that is charged for EMS assist calls for non-emergencies but his request was tabled until more information could be provided.
He said these assist calls vary greatly and while most are requests for mobility assistance or falls, they also get calls for help with medical equipment and were even called to get a bat out of someone’s home. What the ambulance crew may be asked to do he said “depends on what particular call comes in.”
Southern said that currently EMS will make two trips to a residence but on that third and each subsequent call, they charge a fee of $75. “We need to look at this altogether and see if we need to continue this policy or not,” he told the board.
For those who are being billed for repeat trips, Southern said that only about 35 percent of those are being collected, “Based on the collection rate on this, we really aren’t collecting, and we have citizen who aren’t calling 911 when they actually do need us.”
He recounted the tale of one resident who needed home health care but was having trouble finding it, so they made several calls to 911 for assistance. “Before they got the bill, we were out there five times, and all the sudden they got several bills at once.”
“She kind of ended with, ‘Well, I’m not going to call 911 even if I have an emergency.’ That’s not what we want. We want them to call us, and we don’t want them to feel like we’re gonna nickel and dime them every time they need something,” Southern said.
“Were catching some people who really do need our service who don’t have any other help, and they are getting a fee for this that they can’t pay. I really feel like we’re going to have some people who need us and are not going to call for us because of that very reason.”
He said there was abuse of the 911 system around the time some 15 years ago when the fee was established, “We were getting a lot of 911 abuse calls and going 4 to 6 times a day just to do anything. Back then I was still on an ambulance, and I can remember a particular call when I went to a residence four times in 24 hours.”
Commissioner Van Tucker noted in 2015 there were 111 assist calls and in 2022 the number rose to 774. The rate of these calls went up so dramatically over the years that volunteer fire departments and rescue squads stopped responding to them Southern said, “Once the volunteers stopped taking those calls, we actually had non-emergency calls that were pending for some time and then EMS was dispatched. Through the years, it rolled over to where EMS responds.”
Commissioner Larry Johnson asked if there could be better coordination to prevent multiple resources being sent to an assist call, “I hate for everyone to rush to the same call for a non-emergency. Maybe that person could wait another minute while we figure that out.”
The board was reticent to remove the fee outright signaling that the rising number of assist calls would only rise faster if there were no repeat call fee.
Commissioner Mark Marion mentioned the person who called for a bat, “If you do away with the fee, people know they’re not gonna have to pay for anything, you’re gonna get 1,500 calls instead of 751. So, I’d like to see some ideas and some comparisons.”
The board asked for the matter to be sent back to Southern and the county for further investigation. Chairman Harris noted that he had concerns that the county was sending bills at all for these assist calls with no firm policy in place.
County attorney Ed Woltz advised, “Until we have a policy… what we’ve been doing consistently, we will continue until we have a policy. Knowing what other counties do will be really enlightening or maybe some talk with the school of government is in order.”
In other board news,
– Surry County Lead Building Inspector Keith Kiger and his team were recognized by the board Tuesday evening with Chairman Harris saying, “We’re grateful for Keith’s service and his accomplishments with Surry County. We enjoy working with Keith and he brings a breath of fresh air to the inspections department, and we appreciate what he does.”
The board presented a commendation to Kiger for being awarded the President’s Choice Award by the Building Inspectors Association, “For contributing your time for set up and presenting at conferences, helping to promote knowledge and consistency across North Carolina.” They noted his service on a variety of committees and as the Area Director for the North Carolina Building Inspectors Association.
The commendation said the county and its citizen, “Are grateful to have such a highly qualified lead building inspector.”
“It’s a great honor, but I cannot do it without that crew… We got a great crew, and I cannot do this job without them. I’m very proud of where we are and where we’re gonna be going,” Kiger said making sure to thank his wife.
He also thanked the board and the county administration for “having our backs. It’s not an easy job, but we do the best we can to keep the public safe.”
– The board’s decision at their last meeting to end the vehicle leasing program and pause all purchases and leases of county vehicles is already having an impact. Surry County purchasing agent Miranda Jones sent a recommendation to the board to reclaim a 2017 Ford Explorer from the county surplus list and add it back into EMS service.
“Since we will not be replacing any vehicles during the 2024 fiscal year, this vehicle will be needed for training purposes and response needs,” she advised the commissioners who approved the request to remove the vehicle from surplus.
– The board was informed that Austin Love, Chief of the Mountain Park Rescue Squad, has asked the county to approve a re-appropriation of Invest in Surry funds. The rescue squad was allotted $17,902 of the over two million dollars that were granted to local nonprofit groups.
Of that allotment they spent $8,951 to purchase land for a new building and were hoping to use the remainder toward the cost of that new building but the costs have proved prohibitive at this time.
Therefore, they are asking that the remaining $8,951 be re-appropriated to the cost of a 15-foot-tall training platform or installing a culvert on the land to make it accessible for community and training purposes. The board was informed that this reallocation would still adhere to the guidelines of Invest in Surry and be in compliance with state regulations.
“I’m familiar with this piece of property and to be able to access it, it’s a good location…. but there is a little issue with the access coming off the highway there, so I would be amenable to allowing them to do that,” Chairman Harris said; the board agreed and approved the measure.
– The board made several reappointments Tuesday evening including reappointing Monty Venable, Phillip Snow, and Doug Cook to new four-year terms on the Board of Trustees at Northern Regional Hospital.
Barbara Long, Drew Nowlin, J. Wade White Jr., and Commissioner Larry Johnson were all reappointed to three-year terms on the Surry County Board of Health.
– Finally, Commissioner Larry Johnson announced during his comments that he will not be running for re-election, “I will not seek a third term serving as a county commissioner. I have talked with my family and others, and I have decided two terms would be enough for me, so I am going to make that official tonight that I will not seek a third term serving as Surry County Commissioner representing the Mount Airy district.”
“I know it’s about three months until people actually sign up, so I thought I’d give them ample time to make the call if they’d love this easy job or not,” he quipped adding, “it ain’t but two meetings a month” to the amusement of other board members.
Chairman Eddie Harris offered his thanks, “We’re grateful for your service and the time you’ve been here; and I think you’ve done your job well.”
Johnson responded, “I still got a while to, but sign-up time is December, so I thought I’d go ahead so that all those who are waiting for me to make it official: I made it official.”
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