Policies questioned
Dear Editor:
On February 29, my husband, Todd Songer was terminated as the chief of operations of Morgan County Emergency Medical Service (EMS) without warning or explanation, even though during his five years he did not have one negative thing in his personnel file. Yet they fire him without reason and hide behind, “West Virginia is an at-will state and we don’t have to give you a reason.”
As chief, he worked hard to ensure that Morgan County residents were receiving quality emergency medical services. He did not deserve this treatment.
After he was terminated, Kevin Duckwall became the “interim” chief of operations. Since then, many employees have quit. They are having difficulties staffing the ambulances and many times have one ALS crew and one BLS crew instead of two ALS crews, which is what they are supposed to provide. The quality of service is suffering because of it.
The EMS Board of Directors refuses to answer any questions that the employees have regarding these issues and have given Duckwall full control over the squad, though he has never been a full-time EMS employee.
Taxpayers of Morgan County are required to pay an ambulance fee, but have no idea how that money is spent or if they are getting the service they are supposed to. EMS is partially funded by the county. Therefore, per West Virginia law, Morgan County and EMS should follow certain procedures, but they follow their own rules and no one is holding them accountable.
EMS meetings should be open to the public. EMS records should be audited annually by an agency outside of Morgan County. Morgan County should put the EMS contract up for bid every year to ensure that Morgan County residents are getting the most for their ambulance fees. None of these things have ever happened.
Why not? Are the relationships between members of EMS, the Morgan County EMS Board and the Morgan County Commission causing a conflict of interest which is allowing this to happen?
Who oversees the EMS Board of Directors to ensure they are doing what’s right for Morgan County and not fulfilling someone’s personal agenda? As taxpayers and residents of Morgan County you deserve quality emergency medical service that you can depend on. Go to the next County Commissioners meeting and ask questions!
Dianna Songer
Berkeley Springs
