From a standpoint of public policy, it's hard to imagine anything more fundamental to a community's health care than a responsive and medically capable ambulance service.
No matter where people are, the only thing most of them ever consider is that if they dial 9-1-1, first responders will get to them as quickly as possible. They don't know about the intricacies of emergency management because they don't have to. If they give it any thought, it's with an assumption emergency services will be there when needed because, most of the time, they thankfully are.
Keeping Northwest Arkansas residents serviced by ambulance is no simple matter, though. Sporadically, through the last several decades, Northwest Arkansas' growing pains have included occasional ambulance service crises, forcing cities and counties to reconfigure, from time to time, the public and private partnerships that might have been the best solution once, but no longer. Sometimes that was a result of changing circumstances. Other times, it was as a result of someone's choice.
Long distances, sometimes challenging geography and lighter call volumes than in more populated areas can make serving rural areas difficult to sustain.
For example, between 1992 and 1999, three different ambulance services started but ultimately ceased service in western Benton County. Rural areas often don't generate enough calls to support a standalone ambulance service. But it doesn't matter where you are: If you have a medical emergency, you want and need a rapid response by trained personnel.
In the middle part of the last decade, Benton County faced another ambulance service shift when the Springdale Fire Department ambulance service said it would shrink its coverage area to cover its primary responsibility, the people within the city borders. Springdale straddles the border of Benton and Washington counties.
Later, Siloam Springs and Gravette, which had ambulance services that served rural areas of western Benton County, also decided they needed to shrink their service areas geographically to ensure their core customers -- the residents of those cities -- had adequate service.
It was understandably a celebratory moment first, in 2016, Mercy Health Systems stepped up to provide coverage in the southeast Benton County formerly served by Springdale then, in 2017, to cover much of the eastern side of the county. Then, in 2018, when Siloam Springs and Gravette officials said they weren't interested in expanding their service areas, the county entered a contract for ambulance service for western Benton County with Northwest Health Systems.
All in all, since those uncertain times, it has appeared the Benton County's ambulance coverage arrangement had a healthy heartbeat and a strong pulse. Late last week, however, that arrangement developed a clear sign of a need for rapid intervention.
Northwest Health Systems, which embraced the opportunity to deliver ambulance service to western Benton County in 2018, surprised county and city leaders by invoking its 180-day option to withdraw from the arrangement. Northwest was under contract through November 2024 for a portion of Benton County including Decatur and Gentry. It also had a separate contract for a portion including cities of Cave Springs, Centerton and Highfill that would have expired in September 2023.
Its decision to withdraw affects both contracts.
Decatur Mayor Bob Tharp said the announcement was "was out of the blue and totally unexpected." Benton County officials, in a statement, described their reaction as "surprised."
For Northwest Health's part, a spokeswoman explained that the medical system wanted to focus its attention on other priorities, such as its core hospital services and other points of care in the community.
Now, county and city leaders have until this coming January to figure out which provider or providers will meet the community's emergency response needs for the coming years. The complexities of ambulance service evident in past crises suggest at least the potential that a replacement service may not be an easy find. The good news for the people of western Benton County is that county officials and leaders of the affected cities, despite their disappointment last week, said they were confident there will be no interruption of service for the 50,000 or so people in the ambulance service area Northwest Health now covers.
What that might look like hasn't been publicly discussed, which is understandable given the unexpected nature of last week's announcement. Will a permanent solution be found by Jan. 30 or will other ambulance services have to step up to fill the gap if the work to find a replacement takes longer?
Admirably, emergency service providers have a history of stretching themselves to fill such gaps when necessary, although it's not ideal.
Hospitals will continue to deliver their myriad health care services, and thank goodness they do. Ambulance service would be of limited success if there wasn't well-equipped and staffed medical facilities to receive those in a medical crisis, no matter who actually delivers the patients.
Northwest Health helped deliver stable ambulance service to western Benton County for the last four years. Hopefully, Benton County leaders can hash out a new arrangement that continues what, according to last week's comments, has been a working, top-notch level of service from Northwest Health.
What's the prognosis? The vital signs are positive, but it's too early to tell for sure.
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NoneWhat’s the point?
Benton County got a shock to the system last week when its ambulance provider for western Benton County announced plans to withdraw.