Pafford: Ambulance covering Lincoln would be added to fleet

If Pafford Emergency Medical Services becomes the ambulance provider for Lincoln Parish, it will add one advanced life support ambulance to its area fleet, but that ambulance won’t be sitting in the parish waiting just for local calls.

“It’s going to move. That truck will be moving all day,” Shane Davidson, Pafford’s COO for Louisiana and Mississippi told the Lincoln Parish Police Jury Tuesday night.

Davidson’s comments came on the heels of concerns voiced by several parish residents and jurors that it’s been 440 days since jury leaders and city of Ruston officials first met to discuss EMS and rescue service beyond the current contract with the city, which expires Dec. 31, and the issue remains unresolved.

Since that first meeting in April 2021, the city has pulled out as a possible provider for 2023, saying the process for securing a future contract has taken too long.

Now some jurors and citizens are questioning that process and asking why a $120,000 proposal made by Ruston during that initial meeting was never brought to the jury for a vote.

In June of this year, the parishwide Ambulance Service Committee recommended to the jury that it retain Ruston for a year at what by then was a higher fee, but in July the jury said no.

For 30 years, the Ruston Fire Department has been providing parishwide ambulance and rescue service. With the end of that looming, the parish is faced with finding new providers.

“We had the best EMS, rescue system of any parish in the state of Louisiana and that is bar none,” Lincoln Parish Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Kip Franklin said. “We had Pafford and Ruston. We’ve always had two ambulance services in Lincoln Parish. We’ve always had two good ambulances services in Lincoln Parish that worked together through mutual aid. We’ve got four fire departments that cooperate and do mutual aid.

“But the jury has denied, through that (July) vote the people of Lincoln Parish the best service in the state of Louisiana. And it’s gone forever.”

So far, only Pafford has continued from 1 submitted an ambulance proposal. Pafford does not do rescue. Though the Lincoln Parish Fire Protection District said three months ago it was interested in rescue, it still hasn’t said how much that will cost.

The lack of a number is causing angst among jurors and residents. It’s only 140 days until the parish fire department apparently will also be the rescue provider.

“Lincoln Parish fire as of today has not hired anyone to begin manning and/or training for a rescue squad,” resident Chris Garriga said.

“I hope the fire (district) board can get some numbers for the fire chief as soon as possible so we can get his department moving,” he said.

Pafford has agreed to give the district $50,000 toward new rescue equipment.

Franklin said a rescue truck alone will cost around $800,000. The fire district has no water rescue equipment, and by its own admission needs to hire more people.

Franklin said once all that’s done, the cost of EMS and rescue farmed out to two agencies will exceed Ruston’s second, $645,604 proposal to perform both services.

“We had the best,” Franklin said. Garriga gave jurors a one-page typed timeline chronicling events in the ambulance-rescue issue dating back to April 2021. That’s when Ruston officials met with Parish Administrator Doug Postel, jury President Richard Durrett and jury Vice President Milton Melton giving them a proposal that included the $120,000 proposal.

“My concern is we had a $120,000 offer to do fire and rescue that was given to Mr. Milton, Mr. Postel and Mr. Durrett in April of 2021. That was 440 days ago,” Garriga said. “There needs to be come tough questions asked and some tough questions answered.”

Jurors never saw the $120,000 proposal because Durrett and Melton kept it from them.

Garriga said he wants answers.

Several residents said the jury should try to talk to Ruston again.

“I would hope that this body might possibly be able to re-establish negotiations with the city. They provide good service. They are top notch,” Barry Griswald said.

“Call the Ruston mayor. Call the fire department. Set up a meeting. Negotiate a contract that is acceptable to both parties. Don’t try to fix a problem that does not exist,” Keith Newsom said. “Repair the relationship with the city of Ruston and get a new ambulance agreement in place.”

Newsom said RFD has a paramedic on every EMS call.

“If you switch to Pafford or another ambulance service, can they guarantee you they’re going to have paramedics on their ambulance?” Newsom asked. “If they can’t, why switch?”

Ambulance Service Committee Chairman Charlie Edwards said Pafford would have a paramedic on every call. That will be a requirement in a yet-to-come contract with Pafford, Edwards said.

“There will be a nationally registered paramedic on that ambulance,” he said.

In a proposal given the committee on July 7, Pafford agreed to furnish an ALS ambulance for an annual fee — Pafford calls it a subsidy — of $360,000 annually.

That ambulance would be only for EMS and not transfer runs. Though Edwards and others have used the term “dedicated” in reference to that ambulance, Davidson said the ambulance wouldn’t be only for Lincoln Parish.

“Everybody seems fixated on this one ALS ambulance. We’re just having to add an ambulance to our system to cover (the three to four EMS calls daily) out in the parish,” he said.

That low call volume is the reason Pafford is charging the $360,000, Davidson said. Answering only a handful of daily calls won’t generate enough money to cover the cost of the ambulance, he said.

It costs between $ 750,000 and $800,000 a year to operate one ALS unit, he said.

“ What you’re getting for that $360,000, we just adding Lincoln Parish to our entire system,” Davidson said.

The parish would actually be getting access to the eight Pafford ALS ambulances spread across neighboring parishes, he said.

In an emergency, Pafford dispatches the closest unit, Davidson said.

For example, if an accident occurred west of Simsboro, the ambulance in Arcadia would probably be dispatched instead of the one in Ruston, he said.

“We’re sending the closest available unit. So, I need everybody to get off that we’ve got one ALS unit for $360,000. You’ve got all our units,” he said.

Pafford moves ambulances “strategically all day long throughout the parish so that we optimize our coverage area and we reduce our response time,” he said.

Assistant District Attorney Lewis Jones, the jury’s legal counsel, cautioned Pafford isn’t bound to any of the specifics jurors ask about unless those details are written into a contract.

“If this is not in the contract, they’re not bound to do anything,” he said. “This contract we’re talking about is going to be a huge deal. … I don’t want anybody leaving here thinking these issues are resolved. Nothing’s resolved.”