Summer time is vacation time … and many of our Pioneer contributors are sharing their travels this summer, and travels over the years.
The season also brings LOTS of visitors to our neck of the woods – since the North Oregon Coast is now one of the top 10 travel destinations. The population in our county swells to 5x-10x “normal”, traffic is “bumper-to-bumper” on Hwy. 101. And the calls for police, fire, EMTs increases exponentially as well.
We’ve already had a mass casualty incident accident in June, and now a double-fatality on Hwy. 101 last Saturday July 22nd. Driving is dangerous out there, and how about if you need an ambulance? With the ambulances staged primarily in Tillamook central, if you are in south county or north county, not only will it be over 30 minutes (if you’re lucky), consider that ambulance is having to run Code 3 (lights, siren, top speed) – the public safety danger, with all the traffic …
This was just part of the conversation the Pioneer had with a 25+ year employee with Tillamook Ambulance Service. As we have explained, all the statements we’ve received about the ambulance service are being shared without identifying those making the statements. There has been some concern about this choice, and because there have been reports of retaliation, denial of services and some of the statements are from current employees and people that live in our community, we will continue to share information anonymously. Be assured that we have verified that these statements are from trustworthy, knowledgeable sources.
Retired from Tillamook Ambulance for over five years, after a quarter century, the former Adventist employee shared this information: “The ASA (Ambulance Service Agreement) state standard is for Tillamook County to have four ambulances on duty and one on “stand-by” or backup. It’s been over a decade since that standard has been met. They are supposed to be fined when they don’t meet the standards, to provide an explanation and solution to be in compliance… but it seems that the commissioners don’t require that. Follow the money – Adventist keeps ambulances staged in Tillamook and available for transports to Portland because that’s how they make money. When they claim to be ‘losing money’ having ambulances staged north and south, that’s what they are referring to. And what about so many LifeFlights? You bet that they are using LifeFlight to fill gaps in ambulance availability. Then who pays for that cost? Get yourself a LifeFlight membership ($75/annual cost vs. the $70,000+) There’s definitely a staffing shortage, so the hours the EMS crews are having to work to provide some coverage are high, but you can’t blame all that on housing issues … there are lots of concerns. When the ambulance is having to run Code 3 from PC to Manzanita during high summer traffic, there’s a liability and endangering the public.”
Since the Pioneer started sharing information and issues about the ambulance service (and other healthcare concerns), there have been other articles with the same original statements* from Adventist Health about response times and staffing, etc. We continue to receive statements from current and past employees as well as from community members, fire departments and more that call into question the accuracy of the information.
Here is a statement from a former fire department employee:
“I want to talk about response times, and how Adventist is recording them versus how they are supposed to be tracked. As you mentioned, Adventist is stating an average of 12 minutes. Although this may be true (given how they track, which is also incorrect, but more on that later) that still does not meet the standard, which is a fractile, not an average. In other words, Adventist is not required to have an average of 20 minutes or less, rather they are required to meet the 20 minute requirement on 90% of all runs. They don’t come anywhere near this mark. Adventist will not give you this number, stating that as a private entity they are not required to; however, local fire departments have been tracking this for quite some time (at least two years, I believe) and you could get this info through a simple public records request. They can prove the accuracy of their numbers as well, which Adventist cannot do. Since the tracking has been done, Adventist has not hit this fractile even once! Usually, the number is closer to 50% in under 20 minutes, which is unacceptable.
Another issue that is not being revealed is that, even when an ambulance is available, it may not even be capable of transporting because there is only one person on the unit! This is deemed a quick response truck (QRT), which does not count as a transporting unit. Other times, there may be no paramedic on board, which drastically reduces the level of care available. In all of Adventist’s numbers, they are considering a QRT or a BLS unit (no paramedic) when they are calculating response times.
This truly is a crisis for Tillamook county that needs to be addressed. Unfortunately, those with the power to do so are avoiding the issue. Ultimately, the responsibility for providing EMS service, per Oregon statute, falls on the County; however, County leadership has placed this responsibility fully in the hands of Adventist, and commissioners answer to Eric Swanson* instead of Eric answering to them. Per Ordinance 41 an EMS advisory committee exists in order to address issues, but that board consists partly of Adventist leadership, or must answer to Swanson in some other capacity, which renders the committee ineffective in truly addressing any issues.
What can be done? As you mentioned, I feel the most effective long term solution is to form a county-wide EMS district. This would cost the taxpayers initially to set up and would take time, as it would likely require a significant bond measure; however, in the long run this could be a cost-effective and self-sustaining solution that would provide the best possible patient care without a concern for profit. A much faster solution, as you also mentioned, is to enlist the help of the fire agencies. This could be done quite rapidly – almost immediately if necessary. In fact, several local fire departments have a contingency plan in the event that the ambulance service collapsed completely (which I suspect is about to happen). I believe that some local fire departments have the capability to staff at least two ambulances. This would take County funding to accomplish – at least in the beginning. This would at least put two ambulances in north county – which is two more than are there now!”
The Pioneer will continue to investigate, gather statements and information about these issues and concerns with the ambulance service. We are also hearing about other deficiencies in healthcare services in Tillamook County; as well as advocate for transparency and collaboration to find solutions to provide the mandated level of service Tillamook Country residents and visitors deserve.
If you have concerns, please send statements to editor@tillamookcountypioneer.net.
Other articles/statements about Ambulance Service deficiences, inaccuracies of information:
https://www.tillamookcountypioneer.net/tillamook-county-emergency-medical-services-ordinance-increasing-from-15-to-20-minutes-against-the-request-of-fire-department-chiefs/
