Towns County Emergency Medical Service

Towns County Emergency Medical Service

They’re there trained and ready when you need them

By Frank Bradley

Sentinel writer

HIAWASSEE–Forty years ago, Towns County provided no emergency medical service for its residents. If you got bad sick or were seriously injured in a traffic accident, someone had to haul you to the hospital in their car.

There was one other option.  If you were really bad off and needed to go to a hospital in Atlanta or some other far off place, you could hitch a ride in one of Frank Abernathy’s hearses from his Young Harris funeral home. The hearse was equipped with a cot and an oxygen tank.

In 1972, the state of Georgia required ambulances to be staffed with a certified EMT, and about that time Towns County Hospital took over the ambulance service, obtained a real ambulance and hired Jack Mathis as service director. In 1984, Jack stepped aside and his son, Rickey took over as director. Prior to that, Rickey had served as a Towns County EMT for seven years. In fact, Rickey was the first paramedic ever to be employed by the county, and he has been its EMS director ever since.

IN 1996, Towns County Hospital was losing about $10,000 a month and had to be subsidized out of the county coffers. Truman Barrett was county commissioner and he transferred the ambulance service from the hospital and placed it under the direct control of the county.

Rickey said when the ambulance service first started, they didn’t see 30 patients a month. “Less than one a day,” he told me. Now, they are averaging 5.61 calls a day (170 calls a month). Not only are they transporting more people who are sick or injured, they are doing it more quickly and providing better medical care to the patient while he or she is enroute to a hospital or treatment center.

In 1998, Towns County EMS was recognized as the “EMS of the Year” in the State of Georgia. In 2004, it was recognized as the top EMS in Region II, which includes 13 counties in North Georgia,

Currently, the Towns County EMS has five ambulances and 13 full-time employees. Five are paramedics/EMT’s with 25 or more years of service; four have been paramedics/EMT’s for more than 15 years, while three of them have 10 or more years experience. Not only did these medics receive anywhere from 500 to 2,000 hours of training to get their initial certification; all EMT’s are required to take 72 additional hours of training every two years.

“An ambulance is an emergency room on a vehicle,” Mathis told to me on Tuesday.

New methods or protocols are constantly evolving. For instance Mathis said, mouth-to-mouth resuscitation is not as critical as chest compression. “We no longer teach mouth-to-mouth to lay people,” he said.

Last week, Mathis’s crew received eight hours of training on Snake Bites; recently they had Stroke classes, Shock & Bleeding Control, Pediatrics as well as Advanced Cardiac Life Support.

Constantly confronted with patients who have heart attacks, strokes and trauma, the Towns County EMS strives to get the patient to a hospital that is best suited for the patient’s needs and as quickly as they can.

“Time is of the essence,” Mathis told me. “The standard is to get them into treatment within 90 minutes of the occurrence. We are working on getting treatment for them within 60 minutes. Just a few minutes can make the difference  between survival or avoiding major damage allowing a better quality of life.”

Mathis said the determination as to which hospital a patient is sent has to do with the time it takes to get him there and to which hospital can provide the best quality of care in keeping the best interest of the patient in mind. Patients who have had a heart attack are normally taken to North Georgia Regional in Gainesville because it is closer and that hospital provides excellent care. Stroke victims would normally be routed to Erlanger in Chattanooga or Grady Hospital in Atlanta. Trauma patients could go to Erlanger, Grady or to Greenville, S.C., which is well equipped to handle trauma and is only 20 minutes away by helicopter.

Still, he said during the past year, 57 percent of the transports were to Chatuge Regional; 18 percent to Union General; 9 percent to North Georgia Regional.

Mathis said about 200 helicopter flights are dispatched each year to transport patients to hospitals. These are all private companies that contract with insurance companies and bill them at $25,000 a flight. The closest helicopter service is Life Force in Blue Ridge. The determination to flag a helicopter is made by either the patient’s doctor at the local hospital or by the Incident Commander on the scene.

Recently, Towns EMS obtained instrument boxes to be installed on all its ambulances, which provides a real-time “Ambulance Vehicle Locator System.” Mathis said these boxes are to be installed next week and programed to enable the dispatch center to see exactly where a dispatched vehicle is sent, which will allow the center to follow it on a map and redirect it if the vehicle overshoots or makes a wrong turn in getting to a location. Ambulances will also be able to transmit EKG’s taken on the ambulance to hospitals where the patient is being transported to.

This process allows the patients and his medical condition to be provided to his cardiologist as quickly as possible. Also, if warranted, the doctor can prescribe medication to be given the patient enroute to the hospital.

Mathis said about 60 percent of the revenues provided EMS come from Medicare funds. Hence it is important that they be billed out correctly, or else the government won’t pay reimbursements. He said he is fortunate in having Elaine Coleman, who has handled claims for 17 years and does a great job. Those revenues become part of the county’s funds, as do payments from insurance companies and private payees. Mathis estimates that the county loses only about $60,000 a year from unpaid claims.

Still, he made the point that the Towns County EMS does not refuse service to anybody or ask for insurance information before transporting residents who require it.

Mathis and his EMS team are experienced, well trained and constantly working to provide quality service to the residents of Towns County. As we enter this holiday season, it is truly something to be thankful for.