How much time does it take for an ambulance to get to the scene of an emergency?

Sometimes it depends on perception.

At least one witness at the scene of a fatal shooting last weekend in Natchez thought it took an ambulance about 15 minutes to arrive to treat Jesse Lamark Garrison of Ferriday, La., who was later pronounced dead at Natchez Regional Medical Center.

But, according to dispatch records, the ambulance was on the scene at Huddle House on U.S. 61 in eight minutes from the time of the 911 call.

But for Tonya Bennett, who works at Huddle House and witnessed the scene, those minutes seemed twice as long &045; she believed it was 15 minutes.

She said Garrison was alive for most of the time it took for the ambulance to arrive.

&uot;It was maybe three or four minutes after he passed away before the ambulance came,&uot; Bennett said.

But the experience begs the question: How are ambulances dispatched in the Miss-Lou?

In Natchez, three ambulance companies are rotated on a regular basis, rather than choosing which ambulance company might have a closer emergency response team.

Calls rotate among the three companies that serve Natchez-Adams County: AMR, Emergystat and Metro Rural Ambulance Service, said Angie Brown, who is in charge of dispatching at the police department.

&uot;We notify an ambulance service, but their dispatching center may not be local,&uot; Brown said.

The amount of time it takes for the call to be routed to a local ambulance and the location of the company’s nearest ambulance &uot;would be what the response time would be,&uot; she said.

The dispatch center does track average ambulance response times.

In Adams County, the rotation system has been in place for more than 20 years, &uot;ever since we started the 911 dispatch center,&uot; said George Souderes, the county’s civil defense director.

The county’s 911 board &045; made up of Natchez’s police and fire chiefs, county officials and a handful of other local officials &045; approves ambulance services for the rotation.

According to an attorney general’s opinion, such boards may take into account staffing, equipment and response times, among other factors, when reviewing companies to add to the rotation, Souderes said.

But the 911 Board goes by no set response time &045; and even if an ambulance service is not in the rotation, it can still do business since patients can request a particular company or call the company directly, Souderes said.

In Concordia Parish, Vidalia has its own ambulance serving the municipality, while the parish contracts with one company, Metro. Vidalia and AMR are on backup for the parish if there is a major emergency, said Kathleen Stevens, spokesperson for the Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Department.

How do the county’s three ambulance services feel about the rotation system?

&uot;They do a pretty good job &045; we have no complaints,&uot; said Jim Graves, public relations representative for Metro Rural Services, which has been in the rotation about 2 1/2 years. &uot;This way, you’re just about guaranteed an ambulance on time.&uot;

AMR has asked the county for an exclusive contract in the past, but Operations Manager Troy Lambert wouldn’t say whether there are plans to repeat the request in the future.

But Lambert &045; who said he’d put AMR’s level of care up against the other services’ &045; did say AMR advocates having a sole provider system in Adams County versus the current rotation system.

A representative of Emergystat, whose ambulance responded to the scene Sunday, was contacted Wednesday but said the company could not comment on response times without a subpoena.

A public relations representative at the company’s Jackson office could not be reached for comment prior to press time.

Figures on how many counties in Mississippi dispatch ambulances on a rotation basis &045; and how many contact each year with only one company &045; aren’t kept on the state level, said Joel Yelverton, assistant director of the Mississippi Association of Supervisors.

Natchez Police Chief Mike Mullins said he hasn’t received any other complaints on ambulance response times.