Brothers Ryan and James Wilson, accompanied by their mother, Brenda Wilson, outlined their plans for Wilson Ambulance Service and Support (WASS) in a presentation during the commissioners’ regular mid-April meeting Monday morning, when they also asked for the county’s moral support. And at the conclusion of discussion among commissioners, Commission Chairman Johnny M. Lunsford declared, “It seems like you’ve got our blessings.”

County Manager Steve D. Carpenter explained that the next step for the Wilsons would be to submit a formal application for a franchise to operate the ambulance service in the county, in accordance with a county franchise ordinance.

Carpenter indicated that will entail discussions between the Wilsons and Person County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) officials wherein the latter will gather pertinent information for commissioners related to how the new service and EMS can coordinate the respective operations.

In their presentation, the Wilsons emphasized that their ambulance service was not intended to compete with or supplant EMS but rather to augment the medical transport resources available to the public in Person County while also serving as a backup to answer emergency calls when all EMS equipment and personnel are tied up on other emergency calls.

While the latter would require careful coordination, Carpenter noted, “Clearly we’ve always recognized that there was a market for non-medical emergency transports.”

Ryan Wilson told commissioners that WASS collectively offers 15 years’ experience in emergency services and 30 years’ experience in management. He and brother, James, would be in charge of operations, he indicated, while their mother, Brenda, who has extensive experience in medical transcription and billing, would be responsible for accounting and administrative services.

The service, he said, would provide three fully equipped and approved ambulances, 21 full-time personnel and a like number of part-time personnel.

Ryan Wilson said WASS would help address four existing areas of concern in the county — the “ever-increasing call volumes” to EMS, patient wait times, bariatric service calls and transport of deceased persons.

There’s no way to predict call volumes, said Wilson, noting that recently EMS, with its maximum of four ambulances and crews, received eight calls within a single hour. Citing another instance, he said, EMS had 58 calls in two days, which left some emergency calls going without timely response.

Wilson indicated such situations could put the county at risk of lawsuits. WASS, he said, would be able to make “fourth and fifth run” when EMS is over-extended from call volumes.

WASS, he said, also would be uniquely equipped to provide bariatric service to obese patients who weigh 350 pounds or more. The service would have a specialized bariatric unit, and all three ambulances would be equipped to handle bariatric transports. Person EMS now lacks this kind of costly, specialized equipment.

The private ambulance company also would be available to make organ, blood and equipment transports to and from area hospitals, Wilson said.

Personians who now need ambulance transport for clinical visits now must arrange transport via outside agencies, Wilson indicated. Similarly, EMS does not transport deceased persons to morgues or the medical examiner’s office. WASSS, he noted, would reduce a need to rely on outside ambulance firms to provide these kinds of services while maintaining money in the Person County economy.

With WASS making these kinds of transports, EMS would be free to concentrate on life-threatening emergencies, Wilson observed, and also serve to lower response times.

Wilson added that the county’s existing medical transport problems he cited were not the fault of Person EMS, which, he said, “if anything should be applauded for the fine work they have done and the fine work they do with the resources they have.”

He said, however, that the WASS owners “feel we can be successful in alleviating these problems. With the proper teamwork and planning from both our end and the group effort from EMS we can assure a high quality of patient-oriented care for everyone in our county who requests these services.”

Later in the meeting, Wilson said, “The only thing we ask for from the county is your support in allowing us to come and work together with EMS to provide better care.”

County Manager Carpenter acknowledged at one point, “There are some times that we don’t have enough ambulances to go around for emergency care. … And a big reason is we’re down in Orange and Durham” transporting patients.

He observed, too, “There are clearly some pieces of business that could be negotiated out that would not only help us but allow us to do better customer service” through EMS.

Carpenter went on to recommend that commissioners review the county’s franchise ordinance while the Wilsons have further discussions with EMS officials and then submit their franchise application for formal consideration by commissioners.

Chairman Lunsford seemed to sum up the county board’s consensus when he said, “We feel there is a need.”