Recent Budget Cuts Hurt Abernathy EMS

"Unless we can come up with a funding solution of some sort we are going to be pushed into a corner where we don't have the man power to actually field a crew," said Cypert.

Abernathy City Manager Mike Cypert says a lack of staffing and a recent budget cut from Hale County have put even more stress on an already small Abernathy EMS.

"When you consider we are a town of 3000 people and we've got 4 people responding to calls that tells you kind of the dire straights that we are in," said Cypert.

Two of those four crew members are Norma Stevens and Amy Garcia, who have been EMS volunteers for years. Stevens has been with EMS for 28 years and Garcia has been there 29.

But Cypert says even this dedicated team of volunteers is not enough.

"We have to hire outside help. That's expensive when you consider 15 miles up the road in Lubbock those same paramedics are making $50K a year and that is what we are reduced to having to do," said Cypert.

He says this is not just a problem in Abernathy, small communities across Texas and across the nation are struggling to provide EMS services with lower budgets.

"When you look at smaller communities with populations of 6 to 700 that do still have their crews, I don't know how they do it," he said.

Cypert says he's negotiating with Hale County to get more funding for Abernathy EMS, but if they cant reach a deal, Lubbock EMS could take over.

"They've always been more than willing to help us with our needs, but you can only depend on them so much. Everyone wants to be self reliant and independent with local control," he said

Until a deal is reached, these volunteers are working to keep the service going.

"I'm thinking yeah its going to hurt us some, but we are going to try to keep on going as long as we can, so we are hoping we can get some financial help somewhere," said Garcia.

Cypert said he's expecting contract negotiations to go on for at least a few weeks. But he also says Abernathy is lucky to have Lubbock EMS as a back-up plan since 27% of the city of Abernathy lies in Lubbock County.