ROANE COUNTY, Tenn. (WVLT) -- Your life could be on the line because employees at least one East Tennessee ambulance service says they are stretched too thin.

In six months time, Roane County had to depend on other counties 71 times in emergencies last year.

The EMS director says that's too many.

Gloria Wright believes the number of calls have gone up because Roane county is home to a lot of retirees; and that means, the aging population needs emergency care.

There was a small victory Monday night when the commission voted to hire more people.

To demonstrate her point, Wright opened the garage to show Volunteer TV, "There are no ambulances here. Everyone is busy. Everyone is transporting at this time," she said.

And according to Wright, that's normal.

"If we're down to one ambulance, we call that level one," Wright explained. "If we have no ambulances available, we call that level zero. We go to level one 4-5 times a day. We go to level zero 2-3 times a day."

During the day Monday through Friday, there are five ambulances that cover all of Roane County.

That used to work just fine, but since 2008 the call volume has increased significantly, but the manpower hasn't.

"They're running back-to-back calls, sometimes 24 hours a day," Wright said.

"We get worn down," Nikki Goldberg told WVLT.

Goldberg is an EMT IV and she works a 12 hour shift, but she'd rather work 24.

When she's not on the clock, her ambulance is parked.

That leaves fewer crews to come to your aid.
And, in non-emergencies the response time is a lot longer.

"In a normal situation, it would be 10-15 minutes," Goldberg said. "Right now people are waiting three and four hours."

So, the county commission agreed to make Goldberg's ambulance a 24 hour service.

They also agreed to hire six new employees and devote one crew to transports only.

"That takes a really big load off of us. That takes at least four calls a day off of us," Goldberg explained.

For Goldberg: "That means, I get some rest."

For you: "They're going to get help when they need it. A lot sooner," Goldberg smiled.

This is a temporary fix.

The county commission will re-evaluate on July 1st to see if the cost can be justified.

EMS Director Gloria Wright says she has no doubts, it will then become a permanent solution.