EMSA CEO Eyes Texas Job Amid Struggling OKC Ambulance Response Times

The CEO of Oklahoma City’s largest ambulance service is a finalist for the top EMS job in Austin, Texas, amid struggling paramedic response times in the Oklahoma City metro.

The City of Austin announced James Winham is one of five finalists for its emergency medical chief position out of a field of 37.

According to EMSA data, Oklahoma City metro ambulance response times have not met compliance standards for the past 17 months of available data, the most recent month being October 2021.

Winham has been the EMSA CEO since 2017, overseeing the separation of EMSA and its staffing contractor American Medical Response in 2020.

Since the separation, amid staffing shortages and unprecedented COVID-19 hospital wait times, EMSA has struggled to keep up with call response time compliance standards.

The western division, which includes Oklahoma City, Edmond, Mustang, the Village and Nichols Hills, has failed to meet its 90% on time requirement since before June 2020, according to an EMSA spokesman.

In September 2021, a little over half of EMSA’s most critical calls were responded to on time. During that month, it took an average of 12 minutes and 48 seconds for an ambulance to arrive on the scene of priority one calls for things like heart attacks, strokes, drownings, and traumatic car crashes.

That’s nearly two minutes behind the 10 minutes and 59 seconds requirement.

EMSA spokesman Adam Paluka said staffing continues to be a concern, especially with COVID-related callouts approaching levels the department has not seen in some time.

“We are working tirelessly to recruit medics to EMSA. We have stepped up our out of state recruiting efforts, developed a recruiting website joinemsa.com, and have started to build a 'Earn While You Learn' program to help qualified applicants go to EMT school while earning a paycheck,” Paluka said in an email.

According to the City of Austin, Winham has spent more than 37 years working with first responder agencies, first as a EMSA paramedic in 1984.

News 9 reached out to Winham for a comment about his interest in the Austin position but had not received a response at the time of publication.

Other finalists for the Austin role include the acting Austin EMS chief, a New England regional EMS executive and a Charleston County, South Carolina, EMS chief.

“All of these individuals have extensive knowledge of EMS services and programs, and I am confident that any one of them could bring the visionary leadership to the EMS Department that we are seeking in our next EMS Chief,” Austin Assistant City Manager Rey Arellano said.

The Austin city manager said he plans to announce a new EMS chief early this year.