EMSA Service Critique in Oklahoma

When the medical call alarm goes off in Edmond fire stations, firefighters have 60 seconds to get in their rig and get out the door, if it's a structure fire they get 20 seconds more. The Emergency Medical Services Authority (EMSA) has served the Tulsa area since 1977 and around Oklahoma City since 1990.

EMSA says it serves more than 1.1 million Oklahomans in 12 communities and surrounding areas, but just over three weeks ago at an Edmond City Council meeting Edmond Fire Chief Chris Goodwin told councilmembers repeated slow response times by EMSA ambulance crews are now too much.

"You are all aware this has been an issue in the city for some time, so it is no surprise to you. I want to stress before I get started that nothing in my presentation is meant to be an attack on EMSA. We've enjoyed a good relationship with them for many years, but the last 33 months has not been up to the standards we expect,” says Goodwin.

EMSA calls are broken down into priority one and priority two calls. Priority one is serious medical calls. Edmond expects EMSA to respond to 90 percent of priority one calls in less than eleven minutes.  Edmond's fire chief says since just before the beginning of the pandemic in March of 2020, EMSA has failed to do that.

"We feel like we are going on three years with non-compliance. They've yet to hit compliance in the last 33 months a single time,” says Goodwin.

Priority two calls are less serious, but Edmond still expects EMSA to get to those calls within 25 minutes again 90 percent of the time. Chief Goodwin told the city council, EMSA missed that mark in 32 out of the last 33 months. Staffing shortages related to the pandemic many believe have been the cause.

"There have been some long ones, at times they exceeded two hours. That's not the norm now. There has been some improvement, although we are still seeing unacceptable wait times,” says Goodwin.

Ambulances that get to the scene probably later than they should in some cases touch off other issues.

"When you have Edmond Fire Department group or personnel respond to an incident, they are at that until the patient or that incident is completed, and then they are not released to go to another call. So, it takes a half hour, or it takes two hours for ambulance services to show up to transport a patient efficiently or quickly. That means that group of personnel is out of service until that call is finished,” says Edmond Spokesman Bill Begley.

Begley says 24 thousand of the city's 44 thousand utility customers pay an extra three dollars a month on their utility bills each month for EMSA service.

"Three dollars a month for peace of mind. For peace of mind. Knowing if you ever need an ambulance, it's not a question of ‘Can I afford this?’ It's a matter of making that call, and then knowing consistently they will show up,” says Begley.

Tony Fiorentini and his wife moved to Edmond four years ago to retire.

"Yeah, well I think something has to be corrected then, I didn't realize it was like that because we are paying that monthly fee in our utility bill, and it is a good piece of mind knowing that should something happen, we want to make sure they're here when you expect them to be,” says Fiorentini

I reached out to EMSA's Tulsa-based spokesman Adam Paluka about this two weeks ago. He declined an interview request but sent this statement.

“EMSA is aware Edmond City Council approved a request for proposals for emergency medical services. EMSA is proud to serve citizens in our western division, we will continue to work with the city of Edmond to improve performance, and we remain committed to providing high-quality clinical care.”

I talked to Oklahoma City two weeks ago, their fire spokesman told me the city is in the process of negotiating another contract with EMSA, and the fire department had nothing more to say.

I also spoke to other members of EMSA's Western Division. The Village Fire Chief T.J. Hamill says EMSA response times have gotten better, and The Village is sticking with them for now. Arcadia Town Trustee Marcus Woodward says they also plan to stay with EMSA. Nichols Hills Fire had no comment. Valley Brook hasn't returned my call, and Lake Aluma has less than 100 residents.

As for the east side of the state, Tulsa Fire Chief Michael Baker told me Tuesday the city of Tulsa plans to stay with EMSA.

"As far as our response times compliance EMSA has been at or around the 90 percent compliance mark for the last several months. So, it has not been near the problem or challenge at or below 80 percent or less they have had in the western division,” says Baker.