Shoals Ambulance receives contract
After a morning of uncertainty, Pleasant Bay officials confirmed Monday afternoon they are still operating in Franklin County for the time being.
At Monday morning’s Franklin County Commission meeting, employees of Pleasant Bay Ambulance Service took off their company shirts and resigned on the spot after learning their company had not received the recommendation to be the county’s sole ambulance provider, with the exception of the Phil Campbell coverage area, which is covered by the Phil Campbell Rescue Squad.
Moments after Probate Judge Barry Moore read the letter of recommendation from the county EMS Committee listing Shoals Ambulance as the committee’s choice, the Pleasant Bay employees, who were standing in the back of the room and near the door, began taking off their Pleasant Bay T-shirts.
Several employees yelled remarks such as “good luck” and “y’all can have it” as some threw and some handed their shirts to Martha Malone, wife of Pleasant Bay owner Elzie Malone, and stormed out the door.
After the meeting, however, Elzie Malone said he was able to negotiate with these employees to return to work and his company is still operating in Franklin County as of now.
“I think they’re just tired of being told they’re not good enough,” Malone said.
“They’re fed up with all of this and that’s understandable. They hear the commission saying they want to do what’s best for the citizens, and they are tired of being told they aren’t good enough and they are frustrated.
“We have been in Franklin County for 16 years, and now there’s going to be a ‘good ol’ boys’ contract, not a government contract, signed that will put us out of business. I just don’t understand it.”
When the county-wide ambulance ordinance was passed, it was specified that the ordinance would be enforced county-wide, unless the municipality for a current service area chose to opt out, which was the case with the town of Phil Campbell, which chose to opt out of being covered under the ordinance and chose to keep their coverage with the Phil Campbell Rescue Squad.
After the mass exodus of Pleasant Bay employees during the commission meeting, commissioners and other officials moved their focus to making sure the county had adequate emergency coverage if Pleasant Bay was no longer going to operate.
Even though Phil Campbell Rescue Squad was fully operational, the commissioners wanted to make sure there would be enough ambulances to provide complete coverage in the absence of Pleasant Bay.
Blake Hargett, the operations manager for Shoals Ambulance Service, made a call during the meeting to have an ambulance immediately dispatched to Franklin County to provide services.
Hargett said he made a call to the state licensing board to get approval for an emergency license to operate in Franklin County, but Hargett said his request was denied because the state had received a call stating Pleasant Bay was still in operation.
“We believed the county was in an emergency situation with the employees from Pleasant Bay appearing to quit at the commission meeting, but if they have re-negotiated and are still in operation, then they are capable of operating in the county.”
Even though the commission approved, by a 3-1 vote, to accept the EMS Committee’s recommendation for Shoals Ambulance to receive the contract and the contract has been approved, Shoals Ambulance will not begin operation until all the proper paperwork and licenses have been obtained.
“I appreciate Pleasant Bay and all they have done filling in,” Moore said.
“Our goal has always been to provide the best quality service for the citizens. Each service that submitted a bid was judged on the same criteria and we always said the recommendation given to us by the EMS Committee would be the one we would accept.
“This has been a long process, and we are glad to have this all behind us and finally be moving forward.”
“We are excited to begin this partnership with Shoals Ambulance to provide consistent, high-quality emergency care throughout Franklin County,” said Belinda Johnson, the Franklin County EMS Committee chair.
“This is the first time the county has contracted with one ambulance service to ensure every citizen in Franklin County has access to the same quality emergency medical service. Countywide ambulance regulations will help protect the health and safety of our community.”
Shoals Ambulance officials said their company will place two ambulances around-the-clock in Franklin County – one each at permanent stations in Russellville and Red Bay. Additional ambulances will be placed in the county during peak times. According to officials, the company operates the only critical care ambulance program in Northwest Alabama from its Florence headquarters. Critical care ambulances are mobile intensive care units for patients that require advanced care in transit to and from medical facilities. Previously, critical care ambulances had to be mobilized from Huntsville, Birmingham or Nashville.
Hargett said each state-of-the-art emergency vehicle is equipped with the latest lifesaving technology, including LIFEPAK cardiac monitoring devices. The company will hire approximately 25 EMTs, paramedics and supervisors to staff the ambulances.
In addition to emergency response to E-911 calls, Shoals Ambulance also will offer prescheduled medical transport to and from doctor’s visits, assisted living facilities, nursing homes and dialysis appointments with basic life support, advanced life support and critical care ambulances.
“At Shoals Ambulance, our goal is to set a higher standard of care for those we serve,” Hargett said.
“I applaud the Franklin County Commission and EMS Committee for their thorough approach to this process in making sure that countywide ambulance service benefits will be long-lasting.
“Shoals Ambulance deeply invests in the communities we serve, and our patients are our top priority. We look forward to extending our high-level care to our new friends and neighbors in Franklin County.”
