The Winchester EMS remains in a holding pattern for funding to pay their staff.
The Scott County Commissioners have stalled on finding a permanent funding solution.
Randy Dolen, President of the Winchester EMS, says that staffing for multiple calls is at dangerous levels. He says that a multiple-call day, like the one this past Sunday, led to struggles to get EMS to two separate locations: “I guess basically we are still waiting on an answer from [the Scott County Commissioners] to our side. What we are struggling for is a permanent resolution. We are fine where [the EMS] is at right now except for the fact that we can’t afford to pay the help. That’s our struggling issue. If we get more than one call at a time like we did Sunday morning where we had a wreck with 3 injuries and got another call right in the middle of it, we kind of struggled getting an ambulance [to the second call]. We did get it pulled off. Basically, we are just waiting for [the Commissioners] to sit down and talk to us and see what direction we are going to go and move forward.”
Winchester EMS representatives have said they have tried multiple times to reach a funding solution with the county to remain in operation and to keep staffing levels adequate. Proposals have included creating a special service area or using Federal American Rescue Plan funding to help the funding and staffing issues on a temporary basis.
Attempts to reach the Scott County Commissioners have not been currently returned to WLDS at this time.