Ambulances shouldn't be sent to Augusta calls

Editor:

This is regard to the recent story in The Columbia County News-Times reporting that the county is getting another Gold Cross EMS ambulance at a cost of an additional $100,000 (http://newstimesonline.com/stories/021603/new_124-2332.shtml).

I have worked in this county for six years with both private services. Its not that we need another ambulance, its that we need to keep the ones we have in Columbia County and not in Richmond County.

What I am referring to is that Gold Cross EMS uses the 911 truck to run Richmond County contract calls such as MCG Hospital transfers, VA Uptown and Downtown transfers, and dialysis calls in Richmond County. Several times, two to three of the 911 trucks were sent to do VA, nursing homes, and MCG calls in Richmond County, leaving Columbia County with only two units. Recently, a truck in Harlem was sent to MCG to transfer one patient to Charleston, S.C., and thank God that a commissioner in Harlem called and told them to send a unit back to Harlem.

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Another thing that happens during the summer is that the Grovetown truck has been taken out of service and sent to the racetrack on Gordon Highway, and that unit was paid $300 for the coverage. What about the citizens of Grovetown and Columbia County?

This happens day in and day out with this service, and any employee or fire department can verify this information along with public call logs.

So why should citizens pay for a unit that is not needed, and why should we pay for Richmond County businesses and nursing homes to use our supposed-to-be-dedicated 911 providers?

Troy David Bedichek

Grovetown