Seminole Fire Chief Fielding Lucas and the Seminole County Board of Commissioners (BOCC) have agreed to work together to improve EMS coverage for the entire county.

Lucas visited the BOCC during their Monday, Sept. 27 meeting to explain that Seminole County’s entire EMS system is very fragile at this time.

“I’m not trying to bring politics into this,” Lucas clarified at one point during the meeting “I’m concerned about the citizens of Seminole County. I’m a strong believer if you call 911 you should be getting an ambulance. I also understand logistics is pretty difficult for that in this county.”

Lucas pointed out that the City of Seminole is stretched thin, and they are having to reach out for mutual aid. He recalled that overseeing ambulance services was once handled by the State of Oklahoma, but they have turned this responsibility over to the county commissioners.

Lucas began the discussion informing the commissioners that, approximately two weeks ago, he was notified by Shawnee based REACT EMS they will no longer be covering the Prague area, which includes a portion of Seminole County from EW 114 north to the county line and from NS 363 to NS 350. This includes the I-40, Strother School, I-40 Casino, Catfish Roundup, area. This change will take effect at midnight on November 1. He has not been contacted by Miller EMS, but they haven’t been covering this area. He stated that REACT, a government entity, was covering the area for free. Miller is a for-profit ambulance service. (Editor’s note – Prague City Council has approved a proposal from Miller EMS to provide the City with 24-hr. service with one paramedic staffed ambulance and additional mutual aid service from their Stroud location for “$19,500 a year).

The City of Seminole administration isn’t really on with the idea of having to cover this area after having their EMS funding cut, Lucas observed, but he doesn’t know of anyone else that’s going to cover that area. Seminole EMS is bound by law to respond if they are asked for mutual aid. The same goes for Wewoka and Konawa provided the resources are available.

After speaking with the State Department of Health to make certain the were on the same page, Lucas was assured that, if they don’t think they can cover an area, they don’t have to take it. But the minute they volunteer to cover it, it’s on them to cover it.

Lucas expressed his concern for the Konawa area as well. He was aware that their EMS recently had only one person on an ambulance and no first response. They normally call Ada Mercy Hospital before they call Seminole for mutual aid. However, Mercy is currently struggling to get medics and are working at just 60 percent of their normal staff. Due to a recent mandate to get vaccines, some of their part time workers are expected to quit, making the situation even more dire. Lucas stated that the previous day Mercy had only two paramedics available to cover the entire Ada area.

Tim Porter, Commissioner for District 2, which includes the I-40 area, stated it was his understanding that when EPIC EMS announced they were pulling out of Lincoln County four months ago, the City of Seminole sent them a letter telling them they need to pull out of the I-40 area as well. Lucas stated he was unaware of such a letter.

District 1 Commissioner Russell Yott stated that they had visited with Director Willis Stone and offered to have him contact Lucas or arrange a meeting with him. Lucas replied Stone has informed him they were pulling back to Pottawatomie County only and had no interest in going anywhere else. This included the Konawa area.

One solution Lucas suggested was redrawing the districts so that if one takes on a new area, another district compensate by taking up a different portion of their area.

Yott observed they didn’t have to figure it out today, and Lucas was welcome to reach out to them with different options. He added it would probably come down to redistricting all of the EMS services in the county. Porter agreed that they don’t have answers right now, but they need to work together on a solution, look into it, and see which avenue to work on. The District 3 Commissioner also agreed they need to see what can be done, and how they can do it. Yott added that funding would be a major challenge, since they would need to hold a new election to make any changes to what voters approved in August.

According to the seminole-oklahoma.net website, the Seminole Fire Department is an Advanced Life Support (ALS) unit through the Oklahoma State Department of Health. Seminole Fire Department has 122 square miles of fire district and 256 square miles of EMS district.