Sand Springs To Switch From EMSA To Mercy EMS As Ambulance Provider In January

Sand Springs is switching ambulance providers from EMSA to Mercy EMS.

The city hopes the change will improve response times because Mercy will have three dedicated ambulances to Sand Springs and its surrounding areas.

Art Ashcroft believes that if the city had these resources sooner, his wife may have survived a lung infection over the summer.

"It's been a heartbreaking three months, just an unimaginable amount of grief," said Ashcroft. "I wish it never happened to anybody else, and that's the reason I spoke out last night and again today."

Ashcroft's wife Nancy called 911 from their home just west of Sand Springs saying she couldn't breathe back in July. Nancy didn't get to the hospital until more than an hour after she called for help.

"Nancy didn't make it. She passed on July 26 which was Friday, six agonizing days, her blood oxygen when she arrived at the emergency room was 50%," said Ashcroft.

Sand Springs Fire Chief Jeremy Wade says a decline in overall response times, as well as ambulance care capabilities, drove the city to seek out a dedicated ambulance provider.

A dedicated provider would only serve the same area that SSFD also serves.

"There were a lot of times when we were waiting. We had a few times, you know, over an hour wait time for EMSA, and that kind of tied up our fire trucks," said Chief Wade.

As of Jan. 15th, 2025, the agreement will go into effect and all three ambulances will be outfitted with paramedic-level care.

"Paramedics can provide first-round medication, life-saving drugs, things they could do within the first hour at the ER, they can do on scene," said Chief Wade.

Ashcroft encouraged city councilors at Monday's City Council meeting to approve the new agreement.

He believes if the city had this type of ambulance service sooner, Nancy might have had better odds and survived.

"Had the service had been in place on July 20, I believe it very likely would have improved her outcome. The ambulance would have been 12 minutes out," said Ashcroft.

EMSA Sent us this statement about the switch:

"EMSA has been proud to serve the City of Sand Springs for the last four decades. In the past few years, we have had open conversations with the City of Sand Springs about their desire for an EMS service tailored to their needs – much like how the EMSA Trust was established in 1977 to meet the EMS needs of the City of Tulsa. EMSA will work with the City of Sand Springs and their new EMS provider to ensure a smooth transition, which we expect will happen early next year.”