Pulse Emergency Medical Services requested that the Board of Directors review the city's practice of transporting non-emergency patients after Pulse's owner alleged the city is breaking its own rules.
On April 20, Directors received an email from Graham Elledge, owner of Pulse. In the letter, Elledge wrote that the city broke a contractual agreement that kept the city's fire department from transporting non-emergency patients.
Elledge said that in 2014, non-emergency transports by Pulse decreased by half and he had to lay off employees to compensate for offset of income.
On Nov. 24, former city administrator David Cameron reviewed the non-emergency transport process that was agreed upon between Pulse and the city, which would put the Pulse as the first contact for transport.
"After the November 2014 City Council meeting, I was fully under the impression that the city was not going to make such a bold attempt to take non-emergency transfers any longer," Elledge said. "Being under this impression and for good intent, Pulse EMS hired six new employees in order to restore service to the community. However, it has ended up being a deficit in our budget due to the fact that the Fire Department has not complied with the directive."
In a flowchart that Cameron sent to Elledge, as well as fire chief and public safety director Greg Neely, and Siloam Springs Regional Hospital CEO Kevin Clement, any non-emergency transfer would be conducted by Pulse, unless their services were unavailable. If Pulse was unavailable the Siloam Springs Fire Department would complete the transfer.
The flowchart was created by the Siloam Springs Fire Department to allow city services to complete emergency calls, and would allow Pulse to pick up non-emergency calls, Elledge said in the email.
"At this time, I can't help but believe there is no effort being given to abate the number of non-emergency transfers the fire department is doing," Elledge said. "I do not feel this is simply an oversight by fire department leadership, as they are made aware on a daily basis and are given a breakdown in emergency and non-emergency ambulance calls each and every day via email.
"Unless I have misunderstood, I can only assume it is pure insubordination of a department head. The directive was clear and unequivocal from David Cameron, after discussion from the Board of Directors. However, it is my opinion that it has been a willful refusal to follow a lawful order since Nov. 24, 2014."
Last fall Cameron resigned as city manager. His last day was Dec. 31.
City administrator Phillip Patterson, who took office in February, in a Friday meeting with the Herald-Leader, said that he is researching the city's processes to find out if any agreement has been broken.
"Based on the board (meeting) minutes in November (2014), the board, under Cameron's direction, advised that the city go back to the old way," Patterson said. The "old way" was not defined, he noted.
Patterson said that he will report to the board within 30 days, after he's had time to review all of the documentation and speak with city representatives, Pulse and Siloam Springs Regional Hospital.
"We have to get all the facts," Patterson said.
Officials with Siloam Springs Regional Hosptial could not be reached for comment.
General News on 04/26/2015