By Teresa McMinn
Cumberland Times-News
LONACONING, Md. — When a local funeral home stopped transporting sick or injured folks to the hospital, Georges Creek Ambulance Service was created.
The newly formed company followed a trend across the country to replace hearses, which were used as a side business to drive patients to emergency rooms, with specialized medical response to calls for help.
While that was nearly 50 years ago, demand for Georges Creek Ambulance Service continues today.
But last weekend, the ambulance service stopped responding to calls.
“We’re kind of in limbo,” said Gerald Cook, the organization’s vice president.
Difficult to maintain
Between his newspaper route as a kid and growing up with a dad who was a mailman, Cook became an expert on the geography of his small hometown of Lonaconing.
His familiarity of the area suited him well as a driver for the local ambulance service, which he joined in the mid-1980s.
Cook also worked as a dispatcher for the Allegany County 911 Joint Communications Center, from which he retired after 39 years.
He said the ambulance service, soon after it was created, had enough crew members to run emergency calls as well as drive people to their doctor appointments.
By the late 1980s, the service saw a drop in volunteerism but still managed to take emergency calls and facilitate a night team, Cook said.
“We had pretty good coverage,” he said.
That changed around 2005, and the ambulance service, which gets income from a subscription drive, donations and annual medical billing appropriations from the county, began to pay for some EMTs and paramedics.
“We’ve never had county staff,” Cook said of help from the Department of Emergency Services.
In the years that followed, it got more difficult to maintain enough workers, he said.
The ambulance service covers Lonaconing, Midland and a small section of Garrett County.
The service’s first-due area includes two schools, a nursing home, apartment buildings and a primarily older adult population.
The station averages about 525 calls for help annually, had 636 last year and roughly 360 calls between Jan. 1 and Sunday, said Cook, who maintains the service’s hand-written call log.
‘Trouble getting crews’
In January, the service asked Allegany County officials to take ownership of the organization.
“We were having trouble getting crews,” Cook said and added that finances were running out.
County officials were receptive to the idea, and projected eight employees would be needed to staff the ambulance service, he said.
But month after month, the transfer was missing from the commissioners’ meeting agenda.
Meanwhile, three volunteers remain at the ambulance service.
In addition to Cook, Jim Dawson has been with the ambulance service since 1977 and is the organization’s treasurer.
Tom Morgan is a board member and emergency medical technician.
He’s served the organization for 18 years.
For 19 years, Morgan has volunteered at Good Will Fire Company No.1 of Lonaconing.
Although the ambulance service stopped service while waiting for direction from the county, the organization is not officially disbanded, he said.
“We don’t really know what’s going on,” Morgan said.
‘Life or death’
The county is sending ambulances from Frostburg and Tri-Towns EMS to cover Georges Creek’s calls.
That means longer wait times for the Lonaconing area residents who need emergency medical attention.
“That could be life or death,” Morgan said.
The ambulance service has gotten mixed messages from county officials, he said.
“We need them to figure out what they’re doing,” Morgan said of the need for an efficient, complete and responsive EMS system and added the county’s current situation is “pretty dangerous.”
Under a proposed memorandum of understanding, the county would maintain daily full-time EMS staffing at the ambulance service for at least five years.
“That would be our contract,” Morgan said.
But DES leadership appears disconnected, he said.
“It’s like they just don’t communicate with each other,” Morgan said.
‘Won’t get better’
In April, county officials announced a $13.1 million budget shortfall for fiscal 2025.
Included was a $2 million DES deficit.
To solve the overall EMS staffing deficiencies, the Allegany County International Association of Fire Fighters Local 1715 in May suggested a 5-cent public safety tax per $100 of assessed property value, which would mean roughly $6 more per month for the average county home.
County officials said that increase would generate roughly $2.4 million in revenue.
But county commissioners rejected the idea, and said they were “committed to fiscal responsibility and not raising taxes.”
Last week, they laid off six probationary EMS crew members.
Morgan said he supported the fire and EMS tax idea.
Folks need to understand the money would provide better emergency services, he said.
“I think that would be worth it to a lot of people,” Morgan said.
The shrinking pool of volunteer emergency responders needed to fill in coverage gaps won’t get better, he said.
” Times aren’t what they used to be,” Morgan said of working families that don’t have time to spare. “People can’t survive on a single income.”
He works as a pastor at First Presbyterian churches in Lonaconing and Barton.
Morgan’s wife, April, is a regional manager for Vesper Medical Transport.
To be determined
Last week, county officials via press release detailed their plans to address the EMS shortages.
“We understand the hardship this imposes on our dedicated EMS professionals and their families,” County Administrator Jason Bennett said via the release.
“Our intention was always to collaborate with the union to find a solution that balanced our fiscal responsibilities with the need to provide quality emergency services. Unfortunately, the union’s unwillingness to reach an agreement on the 12-hour shifts with no other viable alternatives presented has necessitated these layoffs and coverage changes.”
On Wednesday, Kati Kenney, public relations and communications manager for the Allegany County administrator’s office, said the county aims to take over Georges Creek Ambulance Service.
“That is the plan at the moment, though it is not official yet,” she said.
“The commissioners did note during budget time that this was the intent, but they have still been ironing out if it was feasible,” Kenney said. “We are still working on technicalities with Georges Creek.”
A memorandum of understanding would be on the county commissioners’ public meeting agenda before anything would be made definite, she said.
“There is a chance it could be as soon as next week, but not confirmed at this time,” Kenney said.
Meanwhile, the EMS staffing situation for Georges Creek is to be determined, she said.
‘Moves are reckless’
Jonathan Dayton is president of the Allegany Garrett Counties Volunteer Fire Rescue Association.
“We didn’t want to see the closure,” he said. “They have provided great services.”
The plan for neighboring stations to respond to calls in the Georges Creek area will result in greater wait times for people in need, Dayton said.
Because of Allegany County’s DES troubles, a lot of local EMS providers are looking for jobs in neighboring counties, or considering work in other fields, Dayton said.
“Morale has been low for a significant time,” he said.
“It’s a sad day,” Dayton said. “Communities are built on volunteer (entities).”
Steve Corioni is president of IAFF Local 1715.
“The budget cuts imposed by the commissioners stalled the hiring of more employees for the takeover of Georges Creek by the county and we have not been informed of any plan of how they plan to provide coverage to that community,” he said. “Unfortunately, those citizens will now have to wait for an ambulance from Westernport or Frostburg .”
Corioni described a web of disruptions for local EMS stations as they try to fill coverage gaps throughout Allegany County, which will bleed into Garrett County’s operations.
“These moves are reckless and illustrate the incompetence of county leadership,” Corioni said. “They are gambling with people’s lives and making moves without thinking through the long-term consequences.”
(c)2024 the Cumberland Times News (Cumberland, Md.)
Visit the Cumberland Times News (Cumberland, Md.) at times-news.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.