Learning on the cusp of Masters Week that Augusta’s ambulance service was leaving town was a major challenge, but city and EMS officials said they were able to rise to the occasion.
Longtime provider Gold Cross, which was under a city contract through April 21 to provide ambulance service to Augusta, announced late Saturday it was leaving as of 8 a.m. Sunday.
The move potentially left Augusta-Richmond County residents and tens of thousands of Masters Tournament patrons converging on the city at risk. But by 7 p.m. Sunday, the city and new provider Central EMS had Augusta medical under control, officials said.
“I made a comment that the calvary was coming. I said it. At 6 o’clock this morning, I saw the cavalry,” Mayor Garnett Johnson said at a news conference held during his inaugural Mayor’s Masters Reception Sunday. During the ceremonies, two Central ambulances drove by on a call.
“I never thought it would be a joy to my ears to hear ambulances,” Johnson said.
Central now has as many as nine ambulances and three quick-response vehicles staged at fire stations around the city, officials said. Dispatchers are using handheld radios to communicate with personnel as the city installs dispatch software.
‘Pushing the wagon forward’
Central EMS President Gary Coker praised the city and Central for getting the job done.
“I’ve been in this business more than half a century, and I’ve never seen a more dedicated mayor in my life,” Coker said. “He was up with us up to 11:30 p.m. last night and then back up for muster, and I know he was there before 6 a.m.”
Personnel have “risen to the occasion, both the management staff but most especially all those workers we have that are called ‘techs,’” Coker said. “What the techs do is make all the equipment on the ambulances and all the supplies available and working.”
Central, owned by national EMS provider Priority Ambulance, had the needed ambulances but they were not fully equipped late Saturday, he said.
Augusta Fire Chief Antonio Burden and his team also worked through the night and getting the stations ready and the city’s small ambulance fleet online as well, Coker said.
“I’m so proud to be part of a team that can do something like this in the middle of what is chaos and a potential catastrophe, and they could pull it off the way that they did,” he said.
“It took everybody getting behind the wagon and pushing the wagon forward, and so the people were happy to do it. They wanted to do it and wanted to be here.”
Early departure not unexpected
City officials began to suspect Gold Cross would pull out prior to their intended departure date April 21, Johnson and Coker said. Central had already moved its start date up, from May 8 to April 30 to April 22.
Gold Cross CEO Vince Brogdon told him of “challenges” the company was experiencing and that it was in Augusta’s best interest to “put a transition plan in place,” Johnson said. The company remains the contracted provider at Augusta National Golf Club this week.
The city and Central were hoping for a period of overlap with Gold Cross, which gave up its state license in January.
“We wouldn’t be here had not the previous ambulance service not turned in their 911 certificate,” Coker said. First Gold Cross asked to shorten the transition to 30 days, “then you get into the 30 days and they say well, you know, we just can’t do it.”
Asked if Gold Cross will be subject to penalties for not working the last three weeks of its $150,000 monthly contract, Johnson said that was a question for the city attorney that had not been asked.
“I know there have been challenges. If I’ve gotten complaints on any other subject or issue, it’s been on ambulance service. There have been challenges there and you know it,” he said. Part of the issue is Gold Cross being underpaid, Johnson said. “Our commission has failed the public in that we have not paid our previous provider enough to provide adequate service.”
Contract negotiations ongoing
Coker disputed Gold Cross’ claim that Central had hired so many of its staffers, the company could no longer function.
“They say, ‘Well, we hired a good many employees.” Yes, we hired some of their employees, but not that many,” he said. “A lot of ours came from our own operation, a lot from other areas surrounding Augusta-Richmond. That was a real bind that we were in, but we came through.”
The city and Central remain in contract negotiations over the number of ambulances and CRVs it will provide, their staffing levels and how much Augusta will pay for the service. Johnson and Coker said they do not expect the early start to impact those negotiations.
“As far as those who challenge us to say, ‘Oh what are we going to do now about working through the contract?’ We’re the same company that we’ve been. We’ll come to a resolution and we’re going to make it work,” Coker said.
