Emergency Request From North Carolina EMS

The number of calls made annually to Iredell County Emergency Medical Services has more than doubled since 1988, from about 6,000 to about 12,500. The number of calls last month, 1,101, was the highest monthly total in the department's nearly 30-year history.

Yet the last time the county EMS department expanded its ambulance fleet was 1986.

"There's been a heck of a lot of growth since then," Iredell EMS Director Lee Darnell said.

Since 1990, Iredell County's population has increased about 42 percent. More people lead to more crowded roads, which increase ambulance response time. Darnell is asking county commissioners this year to increase his $3.4 million budget by $1.2 million to add ambulances, stretchers and paramedics, and to reduce response time and staff turnover.

"As a steward of tax dollars, I don't want any more than we need," he said. "But if it's my wife, I don't want her waiting 30 minutes to get an ambulance."

Iredell EMS does not have reliable response time figures because a recent state data collection system it uses is not working properly, Darnell said. Upgrading that system is part of his budget.

But, for example, with no traffic, it takes an ambulance at the Mooresville EMS base, on the east side of town, 20 to 30 minutes to reach the Point subdivision at the end of Brawley School Road, he said. That's with no traffic, an infrequent situation lately on that road.

Darnell also is worried about Love Valley in the northwest part of the county. Although there is an EMS base in Harmony, because of road layout in north Iredell it's faster to send an ambulance from Statesville. That still takes 20 to 25 minutes, which can be a "death sentence," he said.

Iredell's rescue squads and fire departments do an excellent job as first responders in medical emergencies, he said. But in the more serious cases, patients eventually need someone with EMS paramedic training.

Darnell is requesting another ambulance and two quick response vehicles in next year's budget. Quick response vehicles carry much of an ambulance's equipment and are manned by one paramedic. That paramedic can start care until an EMS ambulance arrives, or use a rescue squad ambulance instead.

An ambulance costs about $95,000, needs about $30,000 in equipment and six EMS staffers with salaries of about $35,000 a year each, not counting benefits.

Iredell EMS currently has six ambulances -- two in Statesville, two in Mooresville, one each in Troutman and Harmony -- and a quick response vehicle in both north Iredell and south Iredell staffed by supervisors.

By contrast, largely rural Yadkin County to the north has four ambulances for about 5,000 calls a year. Catawba County, which has about 13,000 more people than Iredell, has eight ambulances and two transport vehicles during normal business hours. They have about 16,250 calls a year, said Catawba EMS Manager Bryan Blanton.

In Union County, EMS has nine ambulances and four quick response vehicles, and will have another ambulance by mid-May, said director Scott Shew. Union County also has about 13,000 more people than Iredell.

Five of Iredell's six ambulances have mileages of 100,000 or greater. This year, the county gave EMS money to buy two replacement ambulances. Next year's budget includes a request for three more replacements.

All of the department's stretchers need replacing, too, and maintaining old stretchers is expensive, he said. Those older-style stretchers hold up to 350 pounds, but Darnell said they need new stretchers than can hold 600 pounds and two attachments that can hold up to 1,000 pounds.

While not many people in Iredell weigh more than 600 pounds, it's an "everyday occurrence" that patients weigh more than 350 pounds, compromising their safety and the paramedics, Darnell said.

Iredell EMS also has many facilities needs. The Statesville base is out of room, and the Mooresville base is a mobile classroom never intended for that use. Some ambulances there can't fit in the bay.