HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. — After an accident in Perry, Houston County had no EMS units available and they had to ask Macon county for help.
Calling for mutual aid is normal, and the county fire chief says they often come up short of ambulance crews, but they're not the only ones.
On any given day, Houston County Healthcare has at least 8 ambulances on the road with two EMS workers each. Tuesday night when five people were injured in a Perry auto accident, all of the county's EMS workers were out on calls. A Macon County ambulance responded to the call and they took about 30 minutes to respond.
"They do just like the fire departments do. If we have an extremely heavy call volume or calls that require a lot of resources, we'll call for mutual aid," Chief Chris Stoner with the Houston County Fire Department said.
Stoner says his agency and surrounding counties use or give mutual aid.
He also says most fire departments are called on because of staff qualifications.
"A lot of our staff are dual-certified. They're certified in the fire service, but they also have a state license in EMS, whether that's EMT basic, advanced, or paramedic," he explained.
Houston Healthcare runs the county ambulance system, and spokesman Kevin Rowley says ambulances are busier at some times than others and certain weather conditions place a larger burden on workers.
But does that mean there's a shortage?
"Oh, there definitely is, but it’s not just Houston County -- it’s a nationwide problem. You can pull up just about any emergency medical journal or publication and there's a note in there, an article in there somewhere about staffing shortages," Stoner said.
Houston Healthcare's spokesperson Kevin Rowley says they have 16 ambulances in total, but not all are used at once due to maintenance, etc. He would not use the word "shortage."
He says they are able to "maintain staffing" but would like to hire more people.