Eight
minutes is how long Gold Cross says it takes for one of its ambulances to
respond to an emergency.
"I
think we do an excellent, excellent job at covering the 911 calls that come in," said Vince Brogdon, CEO of Gold Cross.
But
the response time depends on the call coming in: it's eight minutes for a "Priority
1" emergency; the most serious of an urgent situation. Gold Cross dispatchers categorize
emergencies, as priorities 1, 2, and 3, following a national guide.
But labeling
an emergency is an issue Richmond County Fire Chief Chris James says is not specified
in the contract between the city and the emergency medical service company.
"Right
now a contract provider determines what priority they want to put a call in," Chief James said.
That's
just one of the problems Chief James brought to the commission this week. And
now commissioners are deciding whether or not the contract with Gold Cross
should be revised.
"I
think the contract needs to go up for bid, only so that we can address the
issues in a new contract," Chief James said.
Another
issue Chief James brought up was there not being a specified number of
ambulances required to stay in Richmond County. He says he's not dissatisfied
with Gold Cross' service, but says the contract is too vague, which keeps him
from making sure the company lives up to it's the contracts standards. Right
now, Gold Cross has 20 ambulances serving Richmond, Columbia and Burke
counties.
"We
are in meet and exceed the expectations of the contract by far," Brogdon said.
Gold Cross has been
in contract with the city since 2006. Their contract will be up this year,
unless commissioners decide to renew their agreement.
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