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AMR response times spur cities to reconsider ambulance service contracts

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Some major Mississippi cities that have used the same private ambulance contractor for decades are reconsidering that relationship in light of questions about response times and potentially deadly consequences.

Leaders in Biloxi, Gulfport and Jackson have discussed American Medical Response’s ambulance response and the contracts with that service during recent city council meetings. They have said that forming city-specific ambulance districts is a step toward pursuing city-specific ambulance contracts, rather than being part of countywide contracts.

It’s a step Jackson resident Donna Echols sees as encouraging. On April 27, she waited 90 minutes for an AMR ambulance to come to her home to help her ex-husband, Jim Mabus, who was found to have suffered a series of strokes and died less than a week later. 

“It magnifies the problem that we experienced in that 90-minute wake,” she said. “It tells me people are dealing with the same issues and problems and they want to get something done.”

Councilwoman Angelique Lee, who had read Mississippi Today’s story about Mabus, invited Echols to speak at a June 22 Jackson City Council meeting.

Lee read the company’s explanation in the story for the 90-minute wait – staffing – and said long response times like the one Mabus faced are unacceptable and inexcusable.

AMR spokesperson Nicole Michel told Mississippi Today that the central Mississippi service area was at a level zero on April 27, with eight ambulances and two sprint medics were already responding to other calls, and during the nine o’clock hour, AMR received six service requests, including one for a heart attack.

“If AMR cannot handle the call, if they don’t have the manpower, then they need to be replaced,” Lee said during the meeting. “And I just want to know how many people are going to need to die before we do something about it?”

Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said steps are being taken to reconsider the city’s ambulance service. Jackson has already formed its own ambulance district and the city is preparing to put out a request for proposals for ambulance services.

Lumumba said these efforts would give city control of a contract, and it can make sure to incorporate a mutual aid clause, which Echols believes may have helped Mabus get medical attention sooner.

The night she called 911, Echols tried to get Pafford Ambulance, which is contracted with Madison and Rankin counties, to come to her home, but she was told that company needed permission from AMR to cross into Hinds County where AMR operates. 

Ryan Wilson, operations manager for AMR Central Mississippi, said the company has been the county’s contractor since 1991. Analysis of any ambulance issues and plans must be in line with the Hinds County Board of Supervisors.

Hinds County officials did not respond to a request for comment.

Wilson also cautioned Jackson about taking independent steps that could have potential consequences that impact other cities, towns and unincorporated areas of the county. 

“It is AMR’s hope that all governmental entities will come together to address ambulance-related issues, jointly,” he said in a statement. “Such a collaborative effort would inspire a countywide examination of the current state of EMS, as well as add understanding to the causes of current challenges, leading to an informed discussion of options to a path forward.”

Wilson also said blaming AMR for its staff shortage is misguided due to a nationwide shortage of EMTs and paramedics, and bringing in another provider won’t necessarily address staffing.

In Jackson, family and friends are preparing to hold a celebration of life service for Mabus Saturday to reflect on the life he lived and the person he was. Days later, on July 18, is Mabus’ birthday. 

Jim Mabus, left, is pictured with his family at Christmas family photo left to right, daughter-in-law Mary Katherine Mabus, son Jake Mabus, and Denver Mabus with Donna Echols’ dogs Credit: Courtesy of Donna Echols

Echols wants the celebration to be a happy occasion, but she knows her sons are grieving and she still feels angry about what happened. While it is difficult to retell, she sees sharing the story of what happened as a way to turn a tragic experience into a way to help others.

Similar discussion about ambulance service, city-specific EMS districts and potential contracts are also happening on the Gulf Coast.

At a June 20 meeting, the Gulfport City Council discussed a resolution to establish an EMS district, but members voted to table it.

Mayor Billy Hewes said the city plans to put out a request for proposals for ambulance services, which could result in Gulfport choosing AMR again, but it would mean city leaders can negotiate.

“Sometimes we have to take moves like this to ensure we have a voice in something that is very important to our constituents, and quite frankly, the citizens of Gulfport deserve better ambulance services than they are getting,” he said during the meeting.

Neighboring Biloxi approved a resolution to set up a city-specific EMS district at its June 13 meeting as part of its consent agenda.

Fire Chief Nicholaus Geiser said a city-specific RFP and contract are the next steps.

He said the city has seen some delayed ambulance responses from AMR, especially between 2020 and 2022, when there would be a large number of calls all at once and not enough staff to handle them, but that is happening less now.

There have been times when a life-threatening call in a different area of the county has been prioritized, which led to an hour wait or longer, Geiser said.

He sees AMR has taken steps to work to improve its response times in the county, such as having a dedicated ambulance in Biloxi, which was determined after analyzing data and the city’s busy times. There are also supervisors going out who can relieve fire department crews.

Dwayne Tullos, regional director for AMR’s parent company Global Medical Response, said AMR has served the Gulf Coast for nearly 50 years and believes there is no other provider that can deliver higher standards of care and innovation.

“If the cities decide to contract for their own ambulance services, we look forward to the opportunity to work with city leaders on a customized proposal for each that includes new innovative solutions that only AMR can provide to the citizens of Biloxi and Gulfport,” he said in a statement.

Even if the cities continue to stay within the Harrison County EMS district, AMR is open to working with them to find solutions that ensure the best ambulance service for residents and visitors, Tullos said.

Firefighters, including in Biloxi, Gulfport and Jackson, are often required to train as EMTs and some have gone further and become paramedics. However, that training doesn’t give them the ability to transport people to the hospital.

Geiser, the Biloxi fire chief, said 80% of the department’s calls are for medical service. He said building codes have helped prevent many large-scales fires from happening, so crews are called to fires less often.

He read the Mississippi Today story about Echols’ experience waiting for an ambulance and said what happened to Mabus was unfortunate.

“It’s plain and simple: It’s life and death,” he said. “That’s what we’re trying to prevent here.”

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Mississippi Today

Gov. vetoes bill providing hospitals ‘stability’

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Gov. vetoes bill providing hospitals 'stability'

mississippitoday.org – @MSTODAYnews – 2025-04-25 11:08:00

Gov. Tate Reeves vetoed a bill Thursday that would help stabilize hospitals, calling it the “Grady Twin” of a bill he vetoed in March

Lawmakers made some changes to the previously vetoed legislation in a new bill, but kept much the same. Reeves cited many of his same concerns this time around, including alleged contradictions and the loom of a deficit. 

The bill, authored by Senate Medicaid Chairman Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven, sought to make several changes to the Medicaid program – from mandating providers screen mothers for postpartum depression to requiring the agency to cover a new sleep apnea device. 

Blackwell did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication. 

Arguably the largest impact of Senate Bill 2386 would have been that it called for locking in place supplemental payment programs that have been a lifeline for hospitals – but which are unreliable as they vary from year to year, according to Richard Roberson, CEO of the Mississippi Hospital Association.

That fluctuation makes it difficult for hospitals to plan what services they can offer. 

“The supplemental payment language was intended to offer better budget predictability as hospitals move through these uncertain times and instructed the Division (of Medicaid) to maximize federal funding,” Roberson said. “… Hospitals, like other businesses, need stability to continue to serve their communities effectively.”

Supplemental payment programs bring in around $1.5 billion federal dollars to Mississippi hospitals each year. 

Reeves said in his veto statements for both bills that locking the payment program in place is in contradiction with another of the bill’s mandates, which would change the program to allow out-of-state hospitals that border Mississippi to participate in the program. 

“It is logically nonsensical for Senate Bill 2386 to, on the one hand, freeze the MHAP, while on the other hand, mandate that the Division open the program to include an additional hospital.”

But Roberson said the language of the bill would not prohibit the programs from growing – it would merely clarify what hospitals need to do to get paid. 

Reeves again said the bill “seeks to expand Medicaid.” The bill brings forth code sections related to eligibility requirements, but it doesn’t call for expanding the Medicaid population by increasing the income threshold, which is what is typically referred to as Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act.

Thursday’s vetoed bill was hospitals’ last recourse for stabilizing their budgets via legislation. 

Richardson says the Mississippi Hospital Association has now turned its sights toward the Division of Medicaid to secure hospitals’ payment programs without the help of the Legislature. 

“With or without Senate Bill 2386, we are hopeful the Division will work to stabilize the model,” Roberson said. 

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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Parents, providers urge use of unspent TANF for child care

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Parents, providers urge use of unspent TANF for child care

mississippitoday.org – @MSTODAYnews – 2025-04-24 17:21:00

Child care providers, parents, children, legislators and advocates gathered outside the state Capitol Thursday to call on Mississippi to use unspent welfare funds and resume accepting child care certificate applications.

Last month, the Mississippi Department of Human Services announced it will temporarily stop accepting new applications, redetermination applications and “add a child” applications for the child care certificate program for certain families as the result of the loss of COVID-19 relief funds. The hold, started March 31, will continue indefinitely. The program provides child care vouchers to eligible families, often with a co-payment fee.

MDHS explained that without the COVID-19 relief funding the number of families with child care certificates is more than it can support long term. When asked how long the hold would last, chief communications director Mark Jones explained the hold would end when the number of children with certificates dropped below 27,000 children and $12 million in monthly costs.

The week before the hold began, on March 28, 36,186 children had child care certificates. 25,300 of them fit into one of the MDHS’s priority categories. 10,800 did not.

The Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Initiative, Child Care Directors Network Alliance, Mississippi Delta Licensed Child Care Providers, and Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable organized Thursday’s gathering and  press conference to implore MDHS to tap into unused TANF funds to book the child care payment program.

Carol Burnett, Mississippi Low-Income Child Care Initiative executive director (right), stresses the need to protect access to child care during the Child Care Matters: Keep Mississippi Working press conference held at the State Capitol, Thursday, April 24, 2025.

“DHS has about $156 million in money from prior grant years that has gone unspent,” said Carol Burnett, MLICCI’s executive director, at the press conference.

The child care payment program gets funding from federal and state sources. It received $127 million from the Child Care Development Fund in fiscal year 2024, as well as $7 million in state appropriations, and $25.9 million transferred from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families grant. 

That $25.9 million is 30% of the state’s annual TANF grant money transferred into funds for child care certificates. It is the maximum amount they’re allowed to transfer under federal law. The state also spends 85% of its money from the child care development fund on certificates, when federal law requires them to use at least 70%. 

MLICCI and others want MDHS to add to that by spending current and carryover TANF funds on child care subsidies for families that qualify for child care certificates. According to a memo MLICCI prepared, this method does not require legislative action, has no  spending limit, and is already used by other states.

Under the current hold, families can apply and get their certificates renewed if they fall in one of the following six categories: on Temporary Assistance for Needy FamiliesTANF or transitioning off of TANF, homeless, with foster children, teen parents, deployed military, orand with special needs. The Division of Early Childhood Care & Development will continue paying for certificates for all families until their certificates expire. 

In a statement, MDHS’ chief communications officer Mark Jones said “MDHS understands these concerns and reaffirms its commitment to support child care, transportation, education, and other needs of families who need to return or remain in the workforce. Our aim is to ensure our approaches are sustainable.”

Burnett, parent KyAsia Johnson, state Rep. Zakiya Summers, D-Jackson, and multiple child care providers talked about the toll the hold has taken on child care centers and families. They also stated the importance of child care to sustain the state’s workforce, keep child care providers afloat, and educate young children. 

They also urged citizens to contact the state’s political leadership to get their attention.

“This decision is putting people like me in an impossible situation,” said Johnson, a child care provider and parent. “What am I supposed to do without child care?”

Each provider spoke about how they had to explain the hold to parents, many of whom have had to pull their children out of day care. Cantrell Keyes, director of Agape Christian Academy World in Jackson, had five families pull their children out of her center. “More than half of my school tuition comes from CCPP,” she said.

Signs list businesses where parents work and who utilize child care are shared during the Child Care Matters: Keep Mississippi Working press conference held at the state Capitol, Thursday, April 24, 2025.

Rep. Summers called on MDHS to lift the hold on child care applications, use the extra TANF funds, and communicate better with parents and providers. 

“Right now, thousands of Mississippi children might lose child care, not because the need has disappeared, but because the agency has made a choice,” she said.

The hold on child care certificates comes at a time when many child care providers and parents are struggling to stay afloat amid high costs, high turnover and high demand.

Deloris Suel, who owns Prep Company Tutorial Schools in Jackson, said, “Child care is in crisis. We’re not heading for crisis, we’re in crisis.”

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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Tyler Perry comedy about a Mississippi lieutenant governor ‘She The People’ set to stream on Netflix

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Tyler Perry comedy about a Mississippi lieutenant governor 'She The People' set to stream on Netflix

mississippitoday.org – @GeoffPender – 2025-04-24 15:03:00

Netflix has announced it will stream “She The People,” a comedy written, produced and directed by Tyler Perry based on a fictional newly elected Mississippi Lieutenant Governor, Antoinette Dunkerson, played by Terri J. Vaughn.

According to a trailer released Thursday and press about the show, the new Lt. Gov. Dunkerson character realizes her new job will be extremely tough due to a sexist and condescending governor.

Executive producers for the show include Niya Palmer, Vaughn and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. The cast also includes Tre Boyd, Dyon Brooks, Jade Nova, Jo Marie Payton and Drew Olivia Tillman.

The first eight-episode season debuts May 22 on Netflix, with a second eight-episode season premiering Aug. 14.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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