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COLORADO COUNTY
Colorado County is set to receive $350,000 in state funding from House Bill 3000 towards the purchase of a new ambulance in the next fiscal year.
House Bill 3000 created the Rural Ambulance Service Grant Program that will financially support ground ambulance services to rural counties. The grant outlines two tiers of awards based on population: up to $500,000 for populations less than 10,000 and up to $350,000 for populations between 10,000 and 68,750. The 2020 census reported Colorado County’s population at 20,557. Colorado County EMS Director and Texas EMS Alliance President Elect Michael Furrh testified during the legislative session and is working with legislators to organize the program’s administration.
“I think [the Texas EMS Alliance has] been able to have a really good voice for rural EMS in Texas through this. We are very, very active with our legislators in our area, and they are very receptive,” Furrh said.
Colorado County currently staffs four ambulances a day and holds an additional four on reserve for backup. Furrh said Colorado County EMS would utilize the grant to replace the oldest ambulance in the fleet with a new ambulance. According to Furrh, the cost of an empty, brand-new ambulance is around $400,000, but outfitting the ambulance with equipment and starting supplies will add around $140,000.
“Even if we are conservative about it, [the cost] is out of hand,” Furrh said.
In addition to taking patients to Columbus Community Hospital or Rice Medical Hospital, the only hospitals in the county, EMS also transfers patients to more advanced hospitals in Katy, Houston, Austin or San Antonio. Furrh said that some incidents may require an over 70-mile one-way trip to downtown Houston.
“That’s an increase of mileage and maintenance on these vehicles as well. Not to mention some of our back roads and county roads,” Furrh said. “… Last year, we had just over 4,000 calls for service, and out of that, we are averaging about 60 or so out-of-county transfers a month.”
Furrh said that Colorado County EMS employs full-time maintenance to routinely service the vehicles. To save on costs and to ensure reliability, Furrh explained that the box of the ambulance can be separated from the chassis of the truck, allowing the chassis to be replaced more frequently.
“We do a remount once a year, so out of the fleet of our eight ambulances we always take the oldest, most highest mileage or the one that has the most mechanical issues… We will take the box off of that and put a new chassis underneath it. Every fifth year is when we traditionally buy a brand-new truck and a brand-new box…to replace one that’s lived its life,” Furrh said.
Furrh said the trucks are generally replaced around 170,000 miles but that the truck has not reached the end of its life. Another cost-saving program the county utilizes is transferring the old trucks to other departments that do not require a high level of reliability compared to EMS.
“I really want the general public when it comes to this grant…to understand how we try to be as fiscally conservative as we can,” Furrh said.
The grant program operates on a yearly basis, but according to Furrh, ambulances are on backorder by 16-18 months. Furrh said he placed an order for an ambulance around 14 months ago, so Colorado County EMS will be able to utilize the grant’s funds this fiscal year.
“The crazy thing about ambulances right now is that I’m having to make decisions as an administrator about purchases next fiscal year when that money doesn’t even exist.” Furrh said. “…If we don’t put the order in ahead of time, we are going to keep falling behind.”
