By Bayne Hughes
The Decatur Daily
DECATUR, Ala. 鈥� After getting fined for failure to meet required response times in the third quarter of 2024, the Decatur-Morgan Hospital Ambulance Service has met the required response times for two straight quarters.
Tyler Stinson, DMH ambulance service director, reported to the city鈥檚 Ambulance Regulatory Board on Tuesday that the service in the first quarter of 2025 made 92% of its 957 calls in the city within nine minutes, above the 90% requirement. It made 91% of 1,008 calls in the city within nine minutes during the fourth quarter of 2024.
But the biggest improvement was in the police jurisdiction, a 1 1/2 -mile area outside the city limits in which the city provides safety coverage. With a 13-minute required response time, the PJ is where the ambulance service paid a $5,000 fine and was penalized five points during the third quarter of last year. The hospital chose not to appeal.
Stinson said the ambulance service made 95% of its 73 calls during the first quarter 鈥� January, February and March of 2025 鈥� within 13 minutes. It made 91% of its 74 calls in the final three months of 2024 within 13 minutes.
鈥淩eally the biggest thing helping us is our staffing has gotten better,鈥� Stinson said.
Decatur Fire Chief Tracy Thornton is the chairman of the Ambulance Regulatory Board. He said he can see that the hospital is improving.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e more employees, and they鈥檙e staging their trucks better,鈥� Thornton said.
Decatur-Morgan Hospital started a full ambulance service in 2022 and became Decatur鈥檚 sole provider in March 2023. Stinson said the service now has close to 115 employees.
鈥淲e still have several openings,鈥� Stinson said. 鈥淲e have a lot of PRNs and part-time EMTs (emergency medical technicians) working regular hours.鈥�
He said this has allowed the hospital to put about 10 to 13 ambulances on the road during the day and about six or seven trucks on nighttime shifts.
Another issue that played into the third-quarter failure was the adjustment time needed after the hospital outbid Lifeguard to win the contract to become Morgan County鈥檚 sole ambulance service provider in July.
Stinson said he feels they鈥檝e settled into a routine. While they talked about 鈥渃ity trucks鈥� and 鈥渃ounty trucks,鈥� those ambulances cover for each other.
For example, he said they now post an ambulance in Priceville, but it鈥檚 often closer to a call in Decatur鈥檚 police jurisdiction and some parts of Southeast Decatur.
鈥淪ometimes we have to backfill calls in Priceville with city trucks,鈥� Stinson said.
漏 2025 The Decatur Daily (Decatur, Ala.).
Visit .
Distributed by