Garland committee studies EMS funding, 24/72 scheduling and staffing as consultant warns industry is at crossroads

A Garland committee convened on Oct. 8 to continue a nine‑month public review of the city’s fire and emergency medical services, hearing a national overview of EMS models and debating whether schedule and staffing changes are needed to sustain local service.

Consultant Tim Nowak of Emergency Medical Solutions told the committee that “if you’ve seen one EMS agency, I would argue that you’ve actually seen a thousand of them,” drawing attention to how widely practices vary around the country and why no single model fits every city. City Manager Doug Rex introduced Nowak and cautioned, “Just because it shows up on a slide … doesn’t mean the city of Garland is gonna pursue this.”

Why it matters: Committee members said Garland’s system appears strong but faces financial and staffing pressures that could require operational changes. The group discussed possible shifts from the current 24‑48 schedule toward alternatives such as 24‑72 or 12‑hour platoons, tradeoffs between two‑paramedic and paramedic/EMT ambulance staffing, and the potential costs of adding staff or changing shift structure.

Nowak presented national trends and operational benchmarks: he said the average hospital arrival‑to‑patient transfer time in the local data set was about 10 minutes, 12…