Gold Cross’s Steven Vincent responded Monday to comments made by Commissioner Dennis Williams regarding Richmond County and the Gold Cross Emergency Management Service. A copy of the video interview of Commissioner Williams, who has formally announced his run for mayor, can be found here.
In response to Williams’ call for Augusta to be the sole main provider of EMS services, Vincent stated, “Augusta tried to manage three ambulances in the past and couldn’t staff them. They had so much turmoil and fallout in their own ranks, and their guys didn’t want to do it. They tried, and it was unsuccessful after 18 months. How do you handle 10 to 12 (ambulances) if you can’t handle three?”
[adrotate banner=”23″]
Williams went on to say that most major cities have in-house ambulance services, citing New York as an example. Vincent pointed out, however, that typically small cities run on county services while large cities are typically run by private services.
EMS services in cities such as Savannah, Athens, Columbus, Macon, Charlotte and Atlanta are provided by third parties, much like Gold Cross in Augusta Richmond County, according to Vincent.
“It’s expensive, and that’s why cities don’t do it,” Vincent said. “Most county-based services have equipment that is old and outdated. At the county level, you have to raise taxes and get commission budget approval. If Gold Cross needs an ambulance, they go buy an ambulance.”
Vincent said the oldest ambulances in the Gold Cross fleet were purchased 2019 and most are 2020. The Richmond County Fire Department has four ambulances, two of which are more than 16 years old.
“This would take EMS services back twenty years the way they want to do it,” Vincent said. “It would also cost $10 to $15 million up front. Where are they going to get the staff? The fire fighters have already said they don’t want to do it.”
Currently, Gold Cross receives a $650,000 annual subsidy from Richmond County to provide the service which, according to Vincent, only covers a very small amount of the bad debt from services the ambulance service provides in the county.
Gold Cross responded to more than 100,000 calls last year in the CSRA. They also provide services to Columbia County and Jefferson County, and recently added overflow calls for Aiken County. Their fleet consists of 85 vehicles in tip-top condition, according to Vincent.
[adrotate banner=”19″]
Commissioner Williams also mentioned not being able to keep track on activity with the Gold Cross service. Vincent stated that Gold Cross offered to have a quarterly meeting showing response times and records, but the mayor stated that he, “Didn’t want to do that.”
According to Vincent, Williams was present in that very same meeting.
“I have on two occasions told Mr. Williams that if he ever has any questions, we will provide him with any records he requests,” he said.
“Every time we have offered transparency with access to everything in real time, they (Richmond County officials) said no,” Vincent said. “I met Williams at an EMC council meeting and went up to him personally and said, ‘All you have to do is ask, and I will give you whatever report you want.’”
“We are about saving lives and taking care of citizens of the county. He’s about power,” Vincent said. “We have the best fleet, the best staff in the country right here in Augusta, Ga. We also provide a major boost to the local community and employee over 400 people.”
Williams final comment in the video interview that “Gold Cross has been running themselves to death” is true according to Vincent.
“Anybody who is in health care the last few months knows it has been hell. Most people just didn’t realize how bad it was going to be. But we are starting to see a drop in the number of patients,” Vincent said.
Vincent also stated that all Gold Cross employees who wanted to be vaccinated had receive the vaccine.
Joe Edge is the Publisher for The Augusta Press. Reach him at joe.edge@theaugustapress.com
[adrotate banner=”35″]
