The South Taylor EMS has only been around since December, but with an average response time of 13 minutes throughout the county, they are showing big strides.
"We're getting a good, timely response to calls. It's only taking us one to two minutes to get out the door," said David Allman, director of operations.
But while response time has been good, STEMS is still struggling. They're lacking volunteers, experiencing a shortage of drugs and are looking for more equipment.
"We've got all types of equipment that we need," said Allman. "We need stretchers, we need new cardiac monitors. And all of that takes money."
And it's because of the Medicaid cuts that makes tax dollars so important.
"They're continuing to cut Medicaid reimbursement. So we're working through that," Allman said. "We heavily rely on this Taylor County subsidy to help fund our payroll and help make sure that that truck is going to be available."
By cutting this reimbursement, insurance companies are making it difficult for emergency response services to provide their own funds for the necessities.
"That's money we can't ask for from the county because they're already helping us out. They don't have the extra money to give us for equipment so we rely on insurance reimbursement to get new equipment, invest in our employees and education and stuff," Allman said.
And even though stems is working through the bumps, they are using the first year as a year to learn.
"We're working through this first year. It's a growing process and a learning process. And we'll evaluate it at the end of the year, you know some things that we could do better and have a better update towards the end of the year," said Allman.
"We're getting a good, timely response to calls. It's only taking us one to two minutes to get out the door," said David Allman, director of operations.
But while response time has been good, STEMS is still struggling. They're lacking volunteers, experiencing a shortage of drugs and are looking for more equipment.
"We've got all types of equipment that we need," said Allman. "We need stretchers, we need new cardiac monitors. And all of that takes money."
And it's because of the Medicaid cuts that makes tax dollars so important.
"They're continuing to cut Medicaid reimbursement. So we're working through that," Allman said. "We heavily rely on this Taylor County subsidy to help fund our payroll and help make sure that that truck is going to be available."
By cutting this reimbursement, insurance companies are making it difficult for emergency response services to provide their own funds for the necessities.
"That's money we can't ask for from the county because they're already helping us out. They don't have the extra money to give us for equipment so we rely on insurance reimbursement to get new equipment, invest in our employees and education and stuff," Allman said.
And even though stems is working through the bumps, they are using the first year as a year to learn.
"We're working through this first year. It's a growing process and a learning process. And we'll evaluate it at the end of the year, you know some things that we could do better and have a better update towards the end of the year," said Allman.
