By Daniel Piotrowski

editor@jacksonvilleprogress.com



The Bullard City Council will decide which emergency medical services provider it will contract with at its January meeting, City Manager Larry Morgan said.

The council heard pitches from Trinity Mother Frances Champions EMS and East Texas Medical Center EMS at its Tuesday night meeting at Bullard City Hall. Representatives of each firm explained their companies services and the benefits of Bullard choosing them.

His company offered ambulance service that the city currently does not have, and would rent a building to house an ambulance in town from the fire department, said Arnie Spiers, director of operations and Flight for Life for Champions EMS. He said having an ambulance would reduce response time. Spiers added that the Bullard ambulance would be there 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Mayor Pro Tem Stacey Thompson asked Spiers if the ambulance was occupied, what would be the backup. He said the next available ambulance would come from Overton, with a response time of about 25 minutes. Spiers said they have enough ambulances that all towns would remain covered.

Champions would bring on-scene emergency room quality service and equipment, supplies, training, a landing zone class and help to the local volunteer fire department, Spiers said. He said their ambulances and helicopters carry the highest level of equipment onboard.

Spiers said Champions’ rates are higher than ETMC EMS’s but their subscription was less cheaper and there was no out-of-pocket cost. He said subscribers tell them who their provider is and how much they will pay.

Ron Schwartz gave the presentation for ETMC EMS, which is wants to bring an ambulance to Bullard in order to be proactive. He said ETMC already has a presence with medical facilities in the area.

ETMC EMS executes contracts in areas and establishes independent medical control boards in the communities. He said the boards work with the system’s medical director to provide standard care with the same protocols throughout ETMC EMS’s service area.

ETMC EMS works to assure quality with a monitoring system, provides award-winning service, gives patients their choice of hospital and maintains a system of rate protection that includes annual reviews, Schwartz said. He said their ambulance would remain in Bullard 24/7/365.

Thompson asked Schwartz about ETMC EMS’s response to 911 calls. He said they work in cooperation with Smith County’s communications system and are able to locate callers with cell phones through technology that provides coordinates that are displayed on equipment in the ambulances. He said they also have a membership program that is one of the nation’s largest, and can be subscribed to on the water bill.

Schwartz said if Champions received the contract, Bullard Volunteer Fire Department would have to learn two communication systems. Schwartz told the council that ETMC EMS deploys ambulances like a zone defense and 90 percent of the time they can respond to calls in under nine minutes.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the council approved appointing Scott Nelson and Hayden Ray to the Bullard Economic Development Corp. Member also approved the reappointment of Clay Thompson, Steve Shaddox and Shirley Coe to BEDCO.

The council members tabled consideration of a contract with Hugh Goodpasture for the audit for fiscal year ending September 2009.

The council unanimously approved Acme’s bid to provide the material for the repair of the city’s 10 worst manholes; making Larry Morgan a signatory on the JAG grant; and payment to Capco Engineering of $1,600 for storm sewer pipe. The council voted to drop a resolution casting a vote for the board of directors for the Cherokee County Appraisal District.