Pless feuds with first responders: Emergency medical personnel cry out against proposed bills
File photo
Rep. Mark Pless is taking heat from local paramedics and EMTs after introducing a pair of bills that first responders say will weaken their ability to provide emergency care.
With the bills, Pless, himself a former paramedic, again lives up to his reputation of being controversial and confrontational. However, he also noted that he thinks the people who are voicing the loudest criticism also refuse to come to the table and talk about ideas.
“They may not like my methods, but my job and the effectiveness I have in fighting for North Carolina depends on other folks having conversations,” he said. “They need to understand this isn’t ‘my way or the highway.’ I’m doing what I need to do if they will not come to table.”
HB-219 would strip counties of the ability to franchise ambulance services, meaning private companies could operate without the same level of local oversight and control.
Pless said that counties franchising EMS services amounts to government “gatekeeping” and that it interferes with “free enterprise.” When asked whether he would extend that same logic to bills for other government services, such as law enforcement, Pless had a clear answer.
“Oh, yes, I think everything needs to be and this is just the one that you would extend that to law enforcement. I would extend that to whomever they need to expand into. Because our system is broken,” he said.
Related Items
What remains: Following Helene flooding, MANNA FoodBank releases benefit album
Whole Bloomin’ Thing Festival
Americana, blues at Cataloochee Ranch
Ready for classic rock, country gold?
Specifically, Pless claimed that people are made to wait in emergency rooms after they’ve already been seen by a doctor, meaning the bed is occupied and can’t be used by a new patient. The reason for that, according to Pless, is that they’re waiting on an ambulance to come take them back home or wherever they need to go after they receive care. If hospitals can contract with private or nonprofit entities that provide non-emergency transports, that could clear up the problem, he said.
Pless has said that some counties contract medical transports already, noting Yancey County specifically. However, Yancey County EMS Director Kristy Bryant told The Smoky Mountain News that although the ambulance service goes by a different name — Heritage EMS — it is still a county service.
“With the franchise agreement, what is concerning to me is that it takes all county government oversight out, so leaders have no say so in how they want EMS to run,” she said.
Haywood County EMS Director Travis Donaldson agreed. He said that while there will always be hiccups here and there, he thinks the greater degree of oversight is a good thing.
“If you’re transporting from a location in Haywood County to another location in Haywood County, you have to be approved by the board (of commissioners),” Donaldson said, adding that if Pless’ bill were to make it through, entities with lower standards could start providing services.
HB-675 would eliminate the state standard — a standard multiple EMS leaders interviewed by SMN said is nationally renowned — and instead require paramedics and EMTs to be certified through a national registry, which those same EMS leaders said is far less stringent. While the bill originally mandated that all paramedics and EMTs would need to recertify, at an April 25 meeting at AB Tech between Pless and dozens of first responders, he said he would amend that so that it only applies to new personnel. On April 29, the bill was officially amended.
Pless’ reasoning for that bill is that there is no book and no standardized curriculum for aspiring first responders to adhere to while preparing for their credentialing process. With the national curriculum, there’s a book readily available online. In an industry where the burnout rate is high and emergency departments all over the state are looking for more qualified responders, Pless argues that this would put more responders in our communities.
However, EMS directors have argued that prioritizing quantity over quality will hurt patient care in emergency situations. Donaldson said that while there is burnout in the profession and that paramedics and EMTs frequently move on within a few years to a different part of the medical field — many becoming nurses — he feels like the answer to that problem isn’t lowering standards; it’s improving pay and quality of life.
Donaldson said that both bills will combine to weaken services, which impacts not only folks on ambulances, but also firefighters and other first responders across the state who receive certification.
“They think it’s government overreach,” Donaldson said. “It’s making sure everybody’s on the same page and making sure those other agencies are doing what they’re supposed to.”
Bryant has been among the most vocal critics of Pless’ bills. When she saw what he was proposing, she sent an email to him — along with her state representative, Dudley Greene, her state senator, Ralph Hise, and her congressional representative, Chuck Edwards. She said Pless’ response was “insulting.”
Bryant said her biggest problem is that he didn’t speak with EMS leadership across the state to hear their concerns. Pless confirmed that he didn’t speak with any county EMS directors prior to the drafting process.
“I’ve heard from EMS leadership as far away as Dare County who are against this bill,” Bryant said.
Bryant did make a point to note that while she has taken issue with Pless’ bills, she was happy to hear at last Friday’s meeting that he’d decided to change the provision that would require all personnel to recertify under the national standard. But while Pless may have assuaged some concerns with that announcement, other than that, those present described it as contentious. Many thought Pless was apathetic at best, intentionally dismissive at worst.
In a Facebook post, Vickie Tweed, a Buncombe County paramedic, said she has never been as disrespected by an elected official as she felt by Pless at that meeting.
“I have NEVER seen the total and complete lack of respect that I saw today from NC Representative Mark Pless,” the post reads. “While someone is talking TO him he was kicked back in his seat, on his phone or had his chin resting in his hand. It was as if what we had to say was a nuisance to him. He was called out on this twice with no change in his behavior. This is totally unacceptable and disrespectful to the people of North Carolina that he is supposed to represent.”
In an interview Monday morning with SMN, Pless said he was supposed to speak with some folks from Madison County but that first responders from Buncombe County came in and “hijacked” the meeting, which made him less willing to respond to what he considered attacks.
“Buncombe County came not because they wanted to have a conversation but because they wanted to fight,” he said. “I’ll be as nice to them as they are to me.”
Pless said that while he didn’t consult with EMS personnel when writing these bills, he did speak with multiple rescue squads who supported his effort, since it would give many a chance to increase the scope of their operations. His son, Jared Pless, currently heads up Haywood County’s rescue squad.
A move such as the introduction of these bills by Pless that riles up a broad base of voters across the state — and especially from his district — could hurt him politically, especially considering the outrage isn’t isolated to one party. Amid rumblings that another Republican is likely to challenge him in the 2026 primary, he said he’s not concerned. Pless said if he loses, he’s more than happy to return to his old life. In the meantime, he said he will keep doing what he’s been doing, regardless of who is upset.
“I’m not going to sit there and be quiet, because if you’re sitting there being quiet, you’re not doing anything,” he said. “And if you’re doing stuff up there, you’re going to be controversial.”
