WSAZ Investigates | Lawmakers call for Wayne County ambulance plan

WAYNE COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) - Lawmakers are now speaking out, days after our WSAZ investigation “No Ambulance” sounded the alarm about lacking ambulance service in Wayne County.

In April 2023, Wayne County 911 recordings show the problem forced a dispatcher to handle a chest pains call in this manner:

“Wayne County 911,” a dispatcher answered at 3:51 p.m.

“Yes, I just called about my brother,” his sister said.

“No one’s marked in route yet,” the dispatcher replied. “Is there a way that you guys can drive him?”

While that family was upset, they drove their loved one to the hospital and he survived.

Melissa Foster’s family was not so fortunate. When her husband, Robert, found her unresponsive, but breathing, the family called 911. They were told no ambulance was available from the nearest station.

“Wayne County 911,” the dispatcher answered.

“Yes. I need an ambulance,” her mother told the dispatcher. “My daughter passed out.”

After seven minutes of waiting on help to arrive -- with no ambulance in sight -- one of Melissa’s sisters made another call to 911.

“Where are you all at?” the sister asked the dispatcher at 5 a.m. “You all have got to come on.”

“I’m working on getting an ambulance now, ma’am,” the dispatcher answered.

“Do you not have a --,” the sister began to ask.

“I don’t have a crew from Wayne, so I’m going to have to have to get one from somewhere else,” the dispatcher replied.

“Oh my God,” the sister reacted. “You’re going to let her die.”

It was about 25 minutes before an ambulance arrived from a station slightly farther away.

Melissa did not survive -- her family left grieving and wondering what if?

“I mean, if they would have got there -- somebody there and got there on time, she could still be here,” Robert Foster told Johnson.

Those stories prompted WSAZ to dig deeper.

It found because there is no county EMS service, ambulances in Wayne County only come from volunteer fire departments that are not always staffed.

WSAZ found that EMS in Wayne receives significant help from mutual aid provided by neighboring Cabell County.

“What I found was 78 percent of the calls came from Wayne County,” Johnson told Cabell County EMS Director Gordon Merry.

“It does not surprise me at all,” Merry replied.

“Why so?” Johnson asked.

“Because I hear it every day requesting an ambulance to go,” Merry said.

WSAZ’s analysis of the list found the number of requests coming from Wayne County has increased -- growing from 30-some calls from January through June 2023, to 49 in July, 71 in September and 58 in October.

“At some point does this system break?” Johnson asked Merry.

“I’d say it’s pretty close to be broken right now,” Merry replied.

“And what does broken look like?” Johnson asked.

When WSAZ started looking into who is responsible for fixing the problem, Johnson found, according to state law, it is the duty of county commissions to provide emergency ambulance service.

State law gives county commissions at least three options: one, contracting with a private service, and two, collection of a special emergency ambulance service fee.

The third option is an excess levy tacked onto property taxes, but WSAZ found Wayne County voters rejected that option in 2018.

So WSAZ went to Wayne County Commission President Jeff Maddox.

“When does it become an immediate solution?” Johnson asked.

“There is no immediate resolution to the problems that we’re having right now,” Maddox replied.

With that, Johnson sent our WSAZ investigation to lawmakers, specifically, the state delegate who represents the families we spoke with, and the senior senator representing the county.

“The Commission President told me there was no immediate resolution to this problem,” Johnson asked. “Your reaction?”

“I think they need to put it at the front burner. I think there needs to be a solution plan, I think it needs to be immediate,” replied Del. Mark Ross.

Ross, R-Wayne, a former EMT in Prichard, told Johnson that solution includes finding money to either contract with a private service or staff a county ambulance to fill the gap -- especially in the southern half of Wayne County.

Ross and Sen. Robert Plymale, D-Wayne, say the ultimate fix is a central, county ambulance service. They also support placing a county excess levy on the ballot this year.

Johnson asked about their role in in seeing that through.

“As a state lawmaker, what are you doing to help address this problem?” Johnson asked Plymale.

“I will help with the county commission. If they can come up with a plan, we can help from up here with in possibly getting some funding,” Plymale replied.

“We can work on regulations and so forth that would help, but the county is going to have to come up with a plan, a workable plan, for our particular county,” Ross told WSAZ.

Wayne County has a fire levy. However, firefighters say that money only supports firefighting activities.

There is no word yet if commissioners plan to put an ambulance levy on the May or November ballot, but WSAZ will be following up with them on that and their plan for funding.