Cordell EMS Issue Escalates

The city’s move to possibly privatize Cordell’s ambulance service has set off a firestorm of public backlash during the past week, backlash that escalated after the mayor fired Cordell’s EMS director, Devin Humphrey.

BACKGROUND

The issue came to light during the week leading up to the Cordell City Council’s July 20 meeting. City Administrator J.C. Moser confirmed early in the week that the council would be considering a contract from Pafford EMS to privatize the city’s ambulance service.

More than 40 people packed themselves into the Cordell Community Center for the council meeting, most of whom indicated their desire to speak on behalf of keeping Cordell’s municipal ambulance service. Mayor Jerry Beech fanned the flames of the already high emotions in the room when he announced that the council would only hear from two of the people, shutting down any further discussion.

One of the individuals allowed to address the council was Humphrey. He provided statistics about the ambulance service’s budget and response times to the council. He also questioned the mayor as to why the council was considering the move, given that no complaints or issues had been brought to his attention.

When asked, by Humphrey, when the idea of outsourcing ambulance service came up, Beech told him it’d been under consideration since he first assumed office in April 2019. At that point Humphrey challenged the mayor, recounting a February 2020 conversation between the two in which Beech had reportedly told Humphrey that everything was fine with the EMS department and outsourcing wasn’t being considered. At that point, citizens attending the meeting broke out with calls of “liar” and “snake” directed toward Beech.

Two days later, on Wednesday, July 22, Humphrey was called into a meeting with Beech and Moser, and was fired.

During the termination meeting, Beech said they began to look at outsourcing after Humphrey’s August 2019 plane crash, telling him the city didn’t know if he was coming back. He then told him that he didn’t appreciate being called a liar, and said that when he and Humphrey spoke in February 2020 that the city wasn’t looking at an alternative provider.

Beech, during Wednesday’s meeting with Humphrey and Moser, accused Humphrey of lying and giving out incorrect information regarding the ambulance service’s numbers.

“That’s just really gross just insubordination,” Beech said. “I mean you didn’t come to us, you didn’t talk to us, you’re just throwing this crap out, and it was really kind of just gross misconduct on your part. And the heckler in the back, I don’t know who that was but I’ll find out.”

He went on to tell Humphrey that his comments showed “zero respect” for anyone at the meeting and represented a “bad reflection” on the city.

Humphrey said the move was an act of retaliation by the mayor because he spoke in opposition to the mayor’s desire to outsource the EMS department.

“There is no doubt in my mind that this is in retaliation for me standing up and exercising my civil liberties,” he said.

Humphrey added that at no time in his three years as EMS director has he been warned or counseled about inadequate job performance, neither verbally nor in writing, although during both the city council meeting and Humphrey’s termination meeting Beech referenced complaints made about the service. The nature of the complaints was never specified, despite Humphrey asking about them. The city employee handbook specifies that all complaints should have a “complaint form filled out and signed for processing.”

Emails sent to Beech and Moser requesting comment on the decision to fire Humphrey went unanswered.

Humphrey’s termination sparked greater backlash, with many firefighters, EMS personnel, and other city employees speaking of a city-wide work stoppage. At a meeting of fire and EMS personnel held Wednesday evening, the idea of a walk-out was discussed. Humphrey, however, was one of the voices urging the departments to stay on the job.

“If everyone leaves Beech gets what he wants,” he said. “He can say he doesn’t have a choice but to outsource the ambulance and get rid of the department.”

The other gathered staff agreed with Humphrey, and announced on the Cordell EMS Facebook page their continued commitment to serve and protect the citizens of the greater Cordell community.

The next day a small group of protestors walked around the Washita County Courthouse across the street from city hall as passers-by honked their horns to show support for Humphrey and Cordell EMS. At least two Oklahoma-based television crews came to Cordell to report on the issue.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

A move to privatize Cordell’s ambulance would have widespread impacts on not just the staff of the service, but also on the residents of the city, the city budget, and residents of Washita County outside of Cordell.

Financially, the decision to outsource Cordell’s ambulance service would adversely impact the city’s budget in three significant ways.

First, the proposal from Pafford calls for the city to spend a set amount of $20,000 per month. With that fee, Pafford would provide one full-time Advanced Life Support ambulance crew, available 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Cordell’s municipal ambulance service currently provides a full-time Basic Life Support ambulance, as was decided by the city when they took over the service in 2015.

The ambulance service budget, which has decreased every year since Fiscal Year 2016-2017, is set at just $112,866 for the current fiscal year, which began July 1, 2020. The budget for the last fiscal year was $121,825. The department’s first budget, in Fiscal Year 2016-2017, was $213,324.

The continued slashing of the department’s budget prompted Cordell resident Alisa Boecker to ask about the city’s expectations from the ambulance service.

“How does the city expect our EMS to provide more when they continously reduce their funding each year,” she inquired.

In addition to city revenues, the ambulance service also receives funding from a county-wide sales tax, which is split between Cordell Ambulance and Burns Flat Ambulance. If the Cordell service is dissolved and privatized, those county funds will be reallocated to the only municipal service remaining in the county, Burns Flat, as confirmed by the district attorney’s office through Washita County Clerk Kristen Dowell.

Currently, the Cordell Ambulance fund at Washita County holds approximately $160,000, which Humphrey had been saving to use for the purchase of a new ambulance for the service.

In addition to the loss of the $160,000 and the ongoing sales tax revenue, the city would also lose all of the equipment and supplies purchased with county tax dollars over the years. Dowell provided a list of those purchases to The Beacon, totaling more than $71,000, and including medical supplies, uniforms, computers and communications equipment, and medications.

The last piece of the financial equation is the revenue generated from ambulance billing. From Fiscal Year 2016-2017 through Fiscal Year 2019-2020, the ambulance service’s billed revenue, revenue going directly back into the city’s general fund, has averaged in excess of $50,000 per year. The current city budget estimates $60,000 in ambulance service revenue. That revenue won’t come back to the city if the service is outsourced to Pafford, or any other private service, it will remain with the company as profit.

But money isn’t the only issue.

A number of Cordell residents have come to the defense of the hometown ambulance service, citing the importance of having first responders they know and trust to care for them.

Wendi Brassington, who currently works ALS in Glacier Park, Mont., used to work with several Cordell EMS providers.

“Cordell is lucky to have professional, caring, local people willing to serve the community in this capacity,” she said. “When you invest in the equipment and education of people who live and work in the same place everyone benefits. I now provide ALS for the east side of Glacier National Park, but I got my start working with Annie in Weatherford. Working for all the services I have, I’ve been able to see what a difference having well educated, local people invested in their communities makes. This is an incredibly important issue and I don’t think people realize the level of excellence they have available to them in Cordell.”

Flora Walters, a Cordell student who was in a serious accident in December 2019, said the presence of familiar faces on scene makes a tremendous difference to patients.

“In a life or death situation, you feel much safer when you see familiary faces, instead of just a bunch of random people,” she said.

The discussion about the future of Cordell’s ambulance service affects more than Cordell, too. The municipalities of Cloud Chief and Rocky are also served by Cordell’s ambulance.

Kolt Gray, Rocky’s fire chief, said Cordell’s ambulance service is vital to his department’s efforts to protect Rocky and the surrounding areas.

“They’ve never failed to show up when we’ve called them,” he said. “We’re on the same radio frequencies, so they get the early heads-up. That wouldn’t happen with an outsourced, private dispatch.”

Cloud Chief’s fire chief, Nocona Cook, used to work for Cordell EMS. He said that closeness and familarity has helped build a strong relationship of trust that wouldn’t exist with an outsourced, corporate department. Both Cook and Gray are certified EMTs, which makes them able to ride with Cordell EMS in response to emergencies, further strengthening that working bond.

While Pafford’s representative indicated the company would continue to service the entire area covered by Cordell EMS, he also stated the company would try to find additional means of funding the ambulance service from those communities, despite county sales tax dollars being used to support Cordell EMS at the present time.

The people in those communities aren’t considered members of Cordell Ambulance, as the don’t pay the monthly fee attached to city water meters earmarked for the ambulance service, so they don’t receive the benefit of discounted billing enjoyed by city residents.

WHAT’S NEXT?

At this point, the future of Cordell’s municipal ambulance service is up in the air.

The Pafford contract proposal was not listed as a voting item on the agenda of the last council meeting and no vote was taken. Whether or not it appears on a future agenda remains to be seen.

Devin Humphrey’s termination still stands, but he has filed an appeal to the city council. The date of that appeal hearing has yet to be announced, but it will most likely occur in a closed executive session of the city council.

Cordell EMS is still on the job, without Humphrey.

“Please know the love y’all have shown us these last few days has not gone unnoticed,” the department recently posted to its Facebook page. “Thank you so much from the bottom of each of our hearts. This is just a small reason why we love working here! Even though we don’t like to see our community sick or hurting, we are honored that y’all chose us to be the ones to care for you and your loved ones. The trust that you put in us is not something we take lightly.

“That trust and love is exactly why we are constantly training, constantly brainstorming ideas to bring good things to our community, constantly working on things that will bring peace of mind to those we serve. We don’t do this for the money or recognition. We do this for your, our neighbors, our friends, and your loved ones.

Rest assured, no matter what happens these coming weeks, months, or year, we will not walk out on you! We will continue to care for our community with the same love and compassion we always have. We will continue to treat you like family, because you are our family!”