BCEMS budget options compared

The new BCEMS operations center on Frank Martin Road will house offices for the ambulance service, and eventually ambulance crews as well, although the county's current tight budgets have prevented the type of full staffing for which the building was intended.
(T-G Photo by John I. Carney) [Order this photo]

It was the first board meeting held at BCEMS's new operations center at Airport Industrial Park. The center is still unoccupied; BCEMS office staff will move in soon, after telephone lines have been connected.

Three options

The finance department is asking county agencies to submit proposals based on a 5 percent increase in funding, no increase in funding, and a 5 percent cut in funding.

Last month, BCEMS staff had submitted several different options for exactly how to achieve those figures.

The 5 percent increase, if it were to be available, could be used for additional personnel, an ambulance remount, or raises for current personnel. BCEMS Director Chad Graham said the different options were discussed with shift supervisors, who had conflicting opinions about which would be best.

Bedford County Emergency Medical Services assistant director Michael Clements and director Chad Graham show board members James Darden and Doyle Wilhoite the ambulance bays at the new BCEMS operations center in Airport Industrial Park, near Heritage Medical Center.
(T-G Photo by John I. Carney) [Order this photo]

Ultimately, Graham and assistant director Michael Clements settled on the ambulance remount -- taking the "box" from an existing ambulance and moving it to a new truck chassis. Because of tight budgets, it has been two years since BCEMS last purchased or remounted an ambulance, disrupting what had been a scheduled rotation of new equipment. One of the existing BCEMS units has close to 200,000 miles.

For the 5 percent budget cut, two budgets were prepared, one eliminating two positions and another one eliminating three positions. The staff recommended the proposal eliminating two positions.

BCEMS is hoping it won't be asked to make those cuts, however, because that would mean putting shift supervisors back on ambulances. BCEMS staffers say the supervisors play an important role and that putting them back on ambulance units limits the agency's "surge capacity" to deal with unexpectedly-high traffic. For example, on one recent occasion all ambulances were busy when an emergency call came in. Law enforcement personnel and a shift supervisor had to assist a patient while waiting for one of the busy ambulances to arrive.

Call volume up

BCEMS call volume has been up two of the past three months. In February, the service answered 460 calls, compared to 410 in February 2008 -- and February was a day longer in 2008 due to Leap Year.

In some cases, it's the supervisor who must bring specialized equipment to the scene of an emergency, because not every ambulance has -- for example -- the "stair chair" used for transporting patients down a long flight of stairs.

The board voted to take the staff recommendations and submit the three resulting budgets -- increase, cut and status quo -- to the county finance department. Board members said they'd like the right to go back and review specific cuts if an overall budget reduction is required.

The new center will allow all BCEMS medical records to be stored in one place, and has a training room which can be used for things like first-responder courses. It even has a small space which could be used by another emergency agency -- such as fire or law enforcement.

Other discussion

In other discussion Monday night, Graham said it's not clear whether any health care stimulus funds will be available to BCEMS. If the agency doesn't get any direct benefit, he said, at least the stimulus funds may take some of the pressure off TennCare and prevent any future cuts in TennCare reimbursement to agencies like BCEMS.