CHARLOTTE — A contract between the Charlotte Fire Department and MEDIC has been extended for at least six months.
The contract was to expire Wednesday and would have left some medical calls in limbo.
The agreement signed by the two agencies Tuesday was a memorandum of understanding (MOU) which basically means that citizens won’t see any changes when they call 911 for a medical emergency.
In addition to the six-month extension on contract negotiations, Charlotte Fire Chief Reginald Johnson said they established regular negotiation dates with MEDIC.
Last week, Channel 9′s Gina Esposito reported that Charlotte Fire expressed concerns to the city of Charlotte about MEDIC’s unwillingness to renegotiate the contract.
Then, MEDIC told Mecklenburg County commissioners that it needed more time to evaluate the proposed changes.
The agencies still need to come up with a new contract. Johnson said Tuesday that he’s hopeful they can finalize a long-term deal.
“We’re trying to create a more efficient system,” Johnson said. “We have limited resources on both sides. We have limited resources and MEDIC has limited resources. For the next six months, we are going to come up with an agreement that is collaborative and beneficial to both organizations but continues to provide the highest level of services that we can.”
In a statement, MEDIC said the extension “will provide the time necessary to redefine the role that CFD plays as a first responder in the EMS system along with any downstream impact on MEDIC and service delivery.”
CFD seeks fair compensation and ways to limit the department’s responses to low-priority calls.
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