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Camden Clark seeking county’s help with ambulance service costs

By Brett Dunlap 6 min read

PARKERSBURG -- WVU Medicine Camden Clark Medical Center is requesting $1.7 million annually from the Wood County Commission to help support ambulance service in the area.

Camden Clark Chief Executive Officer Sean Smith, Camden Clark Chief Financial Officer Kyle Pierson and Camden Clark Ambulance Director Shawn Marshall appeared before the Wood County Commission Monday at the Wood County Resiliency Center to discuss the request. Wood County 911 Director Dale McEwuen and Patsy Hardy, chairwoman of the Wood County Ambulance Authority, were also a part of the meeting.

"The funding of (ambulance service) in Wood County for many years has been provided by private companies and has not really had any taxpayer support, which has worked for (many years)," Pierson said. "The operations for (ambulance service) has shifted over the years and it is no secret that if you look across the state and across the country at the reimbursement for (emergency) service is not sufficient to cover the cost."

The medical center is asking the county to provide a $1.7 million subsidy to support operational losses from the emergency medical service caused by low reimbursement rates, expense inflation and stand-by costs associated with the service, Camden Clark officials said, adding they have to have enough people on-hand to cover their shifts, day and night, regardless of call traffic on any given day.

In March 2025, St. Joseph's Ambulance Service announced it was ceasing operations. Through a variety of efforts, the Camden Clark Ambulance Service was able to expand to provide the full coverage for the area and was able to increase its size by around 40 people, hiring many of the people who previously had worked for St. Joseph's. The county was also able to purchase some of the former St. Joseph's ambulances for Camden Clark.

They have taken over the responsibility for the majority of emergency medical calls in the area.

Camden Clark has been able to spread out ambulance placements at substations around the area with ambulances stationed at the Wood County 911 Center to better cover Interstate 77 and U.S. 50 as well as a station at the Southgate Center location to better cover the southside. Ambulances are also in Vienna and Williamstown to allow for a quicker response. Pierson said the hospital does receive some money from Williamstown to help pay for the ambulance up there. The hospital also kept an ambulance at the Peoples Cartage warehouse fire last week 24/7.

They are looking at the numbers and considering eventually putting a truck during the day in the Mineral Wells area, Marshall said, adding the reason to put it there is to cut down further on response times.

Hospital officials praised Marshall's leadership and how overall service has improved throughout the area.

Camden Clark Ambulance has around 108 full-time equivalency employees that cover administration, emergency medical personnel and more.

The medical center is losing around $1.7 million on average with ambulance services now. Before taking over for St. Joseph's Ambulance Service, they were losing around $500,000 annually, officials said.

The county has written three checks to Camden Clark Ambulance since they took over, including $900,309 to buy six ambulances, $71,963.20 for salary enhancements and $86,363.64 for EMS equipment for a total of $1,058,635.84 since March of 2025, officials said.

"We really appreciate what the county did to get us to that point," Smith said.

The ambulance service had 24 ambulances listed in the information they provided the county.

Pierson said one truck has been decommissioned due to high mileage of over 270,000 miles and a number of the trucks are getting close to having high mileage numbers.

"We are looking at replacing 4-5 trucks a year," he said adding they are averaging putting around 30,000 miles on their trucks a year.

Marshall said some trucks have needed more maintenance than others, depending on needs. However, they estimate needing to replace 4-5 a year.

There have been times they have gotten a new chassis and put on a used (recast) box on the back. This year, they are getting two completely new trucks and two recasts, Pierson said.

"It saves us around $100,000 if we can repurpose the box and put it on a new chassis," he said. "Our ambulance service is vital. Around 80% of our calls are 911 (emergency calls)."

Ambulances are serviced by a local auto dealer, and county officials asked if there was value in the medical center employing their own mechanic(s) to take care of ambulance maintenance.

Camden officials said other counties provide some kind of financial support for ambulance service, with the Kanawha County Emergency Ambulance Authority receiving around $7.8 million, Monongalia County providing $5.4 million, Jackson County providing $2.6 million and Harrison County providing $4 million-$5 million, while Wood County provides zero.

Commissioner Jimmy Colombo asked if the medical center has looked internally, without cutting patient care, to find places they might be able to reallocate some money.

Smith responded they are always looking at operations to make sure departments can stand on their own, reduce costs and grow revenue in other areas.

Colombo said the amount of money the medical center is asking for is comparable to the county's jail bill which the county budgeted for $2.2 million last year and which it is continually growing.

"We really have to watch that too," Colombo said.

Commissioner Jim Hamric said many people from the surrounding areas come to Camden Clark because of its location in relation to the distance to other medical facilities offering a variety of medical care.

"We are a leader," he said.

Camden Clark officials said that whether it was them or St. Joseph's providing the ambulance service, people aren't aware of it until something affects that service.

Pierson said when they took over all emergency medical calls, they knew it was going to be difficult to cover financially, but they made sure the community had service.

"This proposal has been in the works for a long time," he said. "Whatever the best path forward is we need to get there."

If the medical center couldn't support emergency ambulance service anymore, the county would be tasked with setting something up, which officials have said would take a couple of years to get into place.

Wood County Commission President Blair Couch said they need to talk about what options they have available, including an ambulance levy (that would be voted on every four years), pass an up-to 1% sales tax countywide or pass an ambulance fee (per house and business).

A number of representatives from local volunteer fire departments were present at the meeting as they had objections over splitting a possible levy among all emergency responders.

"We are not going to impact volunteer fire departments to fund ambulance," Couch said.

The commissioners will look at the numbers, talk with legal counsel and see what can be worked out.

Couch said they will get some additional information and will meet within the next week to discuss what they can do.

"Most counties have their own ambulance service," he said. "We are the outlier and it is concerning.

"Certain numbers will need to be looked into to see what we can do."

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