Growth outpaces emergency services

By Malynda Fulton

VALDOSTA — Residents in smaller Lowndes County cities are crying out for more emergency services to accommodate the county’s steady growth.

When emergencies arise, people find comfort in knowing that local agencies, such as 911 emergency service, law enforcement and EMS personnel, are available to help ease them through difficult situations. In many cases, positive communication between those who place emergency calls and the dispatcher, as well as the response time of emergency units, can help alleviate the stress and anxiety of those with the emergency and could keep a problem from intensifying.

For Jennifer Poyer and her neighbors who live in a new Hahira subdivision on Mulberry Place, as well as others who have recently submitted complaints, there is an urgent need for additional EMS stations to accommodate the needs of Lowndes County citizens who do not live in Valdosta.

“It is important that we have the same level of service as a big city,” Poyer said. “People are people, rather in a big city or a small town.”

Poyer’s stance stems from two prior incidents that involved delayed EMS response time. The first occurred last fall when her son, who has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), experienced some problems. Although a Hahira Police Officer arrived within minutes after Poyer placed a 911 call, the ambulance was delayed because it was stuck in traffic waiting on a passing train. She feels that if Hahira had another EMS station on the other side of the railroad track, the ambulance may have had a quicker response time.

The second incident occurred last week, when Poyer’s neighbor’s daughter had a major seizure while outside playing. Poyer said that her neighbor frantically called 911 and was told that EMS personnel in Hahira were on another emergency call and that emergency services would have to come from Valdosta. Because this would have made the response time about seven to eight minutes later, the woman told the dispatcher “nevermind” and decided to drive her daughter to the hospital, according to the recording of the 911 call.

“For us to not have access to proper 911 emergency care may stem from a bigger issue,” Poyer said. “I just wish there was something more that we could do. With the growth in Hahira, I don’t understand the lack of growth of our emergency services to accommodate the population.”

In response to the concerns of Poyer, as well as others in smaller cities who recently expressed a need for more emergency services in their areas, South Georgia Medical Center Spokesman Laura Love said, “SGMC's Mobile Healthcare Services currently operates five EMS stations: Main, Southside, Hahira, Lake Park and Norman Drive. Just a few weeks ago, our EMS director, Tim Brogdon, was asked to work with the folks at Lowndes County to do another data collection and graph, which would plot all the EMS calls in the county for a specified period of time. From the graphs, we will be able to see the concentrations of the calls by location, date and time. If the report shows that additional services are warranted in a particular area (i.e. Hahira, Bemiss Road corridor, etc.), we will work that into our budget request that is submitted annually to the county for its consideration.”

Love added that it is a priority to respond to all emergencies in Lowndes County as quickly and efficiently as possible.

“Each EMS station is staffed with at least one paramedic and one EMT,” Love explained. “Our goal is to respond to the majority of our citizens’ calls within six minutes. If the EMS personnel in a smaller city are already on a call, we send the closest unit in Valdosta to that city. Our contract with Lowndes County says that we have an average of 10 minutes to respond in the Hahira zone.”

“Our EMS will also meet people driving towards Valdosta en route from outlying areas to speed the provision of care,” Love asserted as she addressed the citizen’s decision to drive her daughter to the hospital.

For now, citizens await the results of the EMS call concentration report and a decision as to whether more EMS stations should be put in place, with hopes to gain more access to emergency services.

“When one places a 911 call, he or she may not be in the right state of mind because there’s an emergency going on,” Poyer said. “We want to feel secure that our needs will be addressed as timely as possible.”

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