Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 29, 1995 TAG: 9506290045
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
A report on emergency medical services in Pulaski County is on the agenda for a meeting at 7 tonight of the Pulaski County Board of Supervisors and the Pulaski and Dublin Town Councils.
The Missouri-based Fitch & Associates Inc. recommends that the rescue squad merger take place within three months. The consulting firm also recommends that Pulaski and Radford Community Hospitals consider funding two new full-time stations in Pulaski and Dublin.
Already, the report has prompted a strong reaction from Supervisor Bruce Fariss.
Fariss said Monday at a board meeting that no action should be taken on the recommendations until the supervisors could meet privately to discuss them. He said he was concerned that the recommendations could mean the end of the volunteer rescue squads in the county.
The report, however, stresses the need to maintain volunteers, who provided the foundation on which the county's emergency services were built.
The board did not accept Fariss' suggestion, but it appears that he and board Chairman Jerry White may be the only county representatives attending tonight's joint meeting. That would not be a quorum of the board, so no action could be taken in any case. The report is being presented only as information at this point.
The three governments commissioned the study because of a shortage of rescue volunteers during daylight hours when the number of calls is highest. The governments also had concern over future funding of emergency medical services.
The two squads, funded by local governments and some contributions, answered more than 4,200 calls during 1994-95, the report says. Many turned out to be nonemergency calls.
The consultant says combining the squads would provide more volunteers to cover the daylight hours, consolidate resources and focus county funding.
It recommends adding a station at Pulaski Community Hospital and another somewhere in Dublin, to be staffed around the clock by paid paramedics and emergency medical technicians. Volunteers would staff the stations during the evening hours along with their own existing stations, and would handle the rescue trucks.
The number of volunteers has gradually lessened apparently because some people are short on time and because of increasing time-consuming medical training requirements, the consultant found. Volunteers often answer calls from work or home rather than from existing stations, which tends to delay responses six to 10 minutes.
The consultant recommended an incentives program for volunteers, letting them accumulate points for on-duty time and medical training which could go toward equipment, tuition reimbursement for training and other benefits.
Dispatching would continue to be done by the county Sheriff's Office. However, the dispatchers would get medical training and monitor the units answering calls.
If both hospitals agree to support the program, it is recommended that a separate, nonprofit corporation be established to operate medical transportation services.
The organization would have the hospitals, through a coordinator, manage day-to-day operations and report to a board of directors.
Neither of the existing volunteer squads charges for services. The consultant suggests seeking reimbursement through Medicare, Medicaid and commercial insurers, and starting a membership program where county residents would pay an annual fee entitling them to be transported and not billed.
The charges, combined with existing government subsidies and donations, should be enough to allow the system to break even financially. Until they can be established, the report suggests that the two hospitals provide start-up funding of an estimated $205,000.
Another recommendation is that Radford Community Hospital's electronic emergency medical service record-keeping and computerized billing software be used by the new separate corporation.
It is likely that each governing body will consider the study and its recommendations individually before any joint action is taken.
Tonight's meeting will be held at 7 in the Charles and Ona B. Free Library at Dublin.
by CNB