How Beaufort County EMS Is Organized | Eastern North Carolina Now

Commissioner Hood Richardson explains himself: Above.     photo by Stan Deatherage
 Just about anything the any government does gets complicated very quickly. All government functions, from federal to state to county are complicated. The average person has great difficulty in understanding the policies, the whys and wherefores of all those people and the decisions being made. I believe we have several commissioners who are more clueless than the average citizen.

 The purpose of this article is to let you have a better understanding of our Emergency Management System. I do not present myself as an expert, just someone who has some knowledge.

 All EMS (Emergency Management Systems) in Beaufort County and the towns in Beaufort County were started and manned by volunteers. Eventually the City of Washington became a paid unit. All other units in the county were volunteer units until about 2 years ago. That is about the time that Gary "Nonsense" Brinn and Ron Buzzeo started fixing things. That is also about the time Vidant Shut down the Belhaven Hospital. Vidant, with their money and poor quality service, are a driving force in what is going on in the Beaufort County EMS system today.

 The lack of emergency care in Belhaven after July 1, 2014 caused the Town of Belhaven to join with the County to fund a contract with a private EMS provider. This started out being a temporary fix until the hospital could be reopened. The reopening of the Belhaven Hospital has dragged on since then as residents of Belhaven have fought against the reopening of the hospital. Residents fighting the reopening of the hospital is hard to believe. The Pantego Creek, LLC is standing firm in their refusal to give the hospital property to the town. They cannot tell you what they are going to do with it other than deny medical services in the Belhaven area. Sounds like a 2 year old and his toy to me.

 As a result of some deaths in the area who could possibly have been saved had the paramedical level of service been available the EMS service, has been upgraded. This doubled the cost to Belhaven and Berafort County.

 Within a few months along came Chocowinity EMS who under the leadership of former County Commissioner Jay Mcroy decided to become a paid unit, and upgrade to the paramedic level. They did not do a lot of financial planning and soon found they had run out of money. They scrambled around brought a law suit against Beaufort County, cut a deal with Vidant to complete against legally franchised companies to haul Vidant's patients. I guess it was Beaufort County's fault they ran out of money. They were supposed to get a franchise but they went on their own without permission. The law suit has never been dropped. The Chocowinity situation really got complicated when Buzzeo and "Nonsense" Brinn started helping them. It remains to be seen whether Chocowinity will survive financially or not.

 Beaufort County is shutting down units and hiring full time paramedicals to provide service 24 hours per day. We now have the Blounts Creek and the Bath units fully staffed.

 Beaufort County Emergency Dispatch has been trained to do medical dispatches in addition other police and fire work. Buzzeo and Brinn along with Waters, Belcher, Langley and Booth are now modernizing the entire County. Beaufort County notified the City of Washington that they are now the emergency medical dispatchers for the entire County and they would directly dispatch the City of Washington units. This means the you could see a City Washington EMS unit anywhere in the County. On occasion Washington has been sent to Bath While Chocowinity units have come to Washington. This can cause problems because Chocowinity will claim the billing for calls in Washington. Washington could struggle because of reduced revenues while they sit at a low volume location. Beaufort County contracts with the City of Washington to provide services to the northwest corner of the County (the Old Ford area). What if the City of Washington opts out of EMS and dumps the whole system on the County.. That would definitely be more expense to the County. But, all of this manipulation increases Chocowinity's revenue.

 What abut the volunteer units. Under the Gang of Six (Commissioners Buzzeo, "Nonsense" Brinn, Waters, Belcher, Langley and Booth) every person receiving services is to be billed for the service. Lets see, we are increasing services and taxes and now everyone is going to get a bill. Volunteer units have provided valuable services, for the most part free service to citizens. Now we are going to be taxed and billed for what these commissioners, in their sole discretion, have decided is something we need. This is not democracy, this is a dictatorship. Not one public hearing has been held to explain to the public what the plan is and how they are going to be expected to pay for it.

 At the Board meeting for the Belhaven area last month there was discussion about doing away with the contract for the private provider and the County taking over the Belhaven area. There was also talk about moving the unit in Belhaven to an out of town location.

 I am concerned about the future of EMS Services in Beaufort County. I am concerned about the heavy handed way Beaufort County has gone about changing EMS services. I am concerned about loosing the dedicated volunteers who have served the County so long. I am definitely concerned about how much our taxes will increase as we go to a high level of care in a county that does not have enough population to generate the revenues to pay for all these people and equipment. None of these six commissioners have successful experience in running businesses. I have not seen a business plan nor have I seen a financial plant. I have not seen a study showing estimated revenues.

 Commissioners Brinn, Buzzeo. Waters, Belcher, Booth and Langley have seized control of EMS services. They forgot the most important ingredient, the tax paying public. They, by themselves , have decided what is good for Beaufort County. They have left out all of the EMS volunteers and other stake holders. Big Brother knows best. They have missed the most important part. How to pay for this. They can make this work for two to three years by using the County savings account and looting the hospital trust fund. Then Taxes are going to go sky high.

 I do not know of a single county our size who has tried this and been successful. In the cases I know about the cost has gone through the ceiling and the public has demanded a reduction in services. We simply do not have the volume of calls to justify these changes.
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