By Anthony Spangler
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Copyright 2007 Fort Worth Star-Telegram

FORT WORTH, Texas — The Area Metropolitan Ambulance Authority, which operates MedStar for 15 Tarrant County cities, plans to hire 14 employees and buy two ambulances to end its reliance on Fort Worth firefighters.

MedStar, which has been plagued by staffing shortages and lengthy response times, pays Fort Worth firefighters about $4,200 a day to staff two ambulances to answer life-threatening calls in a timely manner.

The ambulance board agreed Wednesday to add more than $900,000 to its $22 million annual budget to buy the ambulances and hire paramedics and emergency medical technicians, or EMTs, because it would be cheaper than paying off-duty firefighters.

"We're moving to the point where we're going to need a major change in our funding arrangement with our member cities," board Chairman Howard McMahan said.

MedStar hopes that Fort Worth and 14 other cities that contract with the ambulance service will consider bolstering public subsidies. MedStar receives about $1.4 million from participating cities, including $1.3 million from Fort Worth. Patient bills are discounted based on cities' per capita support.

MedStar Executive Director Jack Eades said the new ambulances and crews could be operational by late March. He reported that with the help of Fort Worth firefighters, MedStar is getting closer to meeting its goal of responding to 90 percent of life-threatening calls within 9 minutes.

Eades also briefed the board on how management plans to address a recent employee survey that shows widespread dissatisfaction with pay, morale and views of MedStar leadership.

MedStar also recently bought a 4,000-square-foot building near its Fort Worth headquarters for $185,000. The building will be used for MedStar's training academy for EMTs and paramedics.