Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 1, 1995 TAG: 9507030023
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Long
Rick Keller, representing the consulting firm of Fitch & Associates, said quick action is needed because responses to emergency calls take too long - up to 20 minutes - due to a lack of rescue volunteers during daylight hours.
Keller made his recommendation at a joint meeting Thursday night of members of Pulaski and Dublin Town Councils and the Pulaski County Board of Supervisors.
The study, commissioned by the local governments, calls for Pulaski and Radford Community Hospitals to fund the start-up of a not-for-profit corporation, which would operate emergency services through a cadre of hired professionals and the volunteers from the county's two existing rescue squads.
The Pulaski County Lifesaving Crew and New River Valley Rescue Squad should merge, the report says. Its volunteers would then work with the hired professionals.
"Same uniform, same training, same status ... They're all going to be professionals. It's just that some are going to be paid," Keller said. "Fire departments are a good example of paid and volunteer."
The new corporation would have a seven-member board with two representatives from each hospital and one from each of the county's three governing bodies. The board would hire an administrator who, in turn, would hire people to staff the emergency centers along with the volunteers.
"One of the reasons we focused on the hospitals is we needed some money for start-up," Keller said. He said officials at the hospitals had approved the concept. "They have some concerns about working with each other," he said, but emergency medical service is the one place where they can do so without affecting their competition otherwise.
"If you could pull them together, you know, you could walk on water," Supervisor Bruce Fariss said. Keller said it has been done elsewhere in situations even more competitive.
"This is one area where you can separate and isolate it enough so no one has control," Keller said.
Colbern Linkous, a former Dublin Town Councilman, spoke from the audience saying he wanted to comment on the proposal. Linkous, a challenger in the November election for Fariss' board seat, has been a consistent advocate for Dublin being independent of ties with the county.
But board Chairman Jerry White said he and the other supervisors present - Fariss, Mason Vaughan and Joe Sheffey - were there only to receive information and not to debate or discuss it. Dublin Mayor Benny Keister said the Dublin council also wanted to discuss it among its own members.
Fred Gravley, a squad volunteer for 25 years, said a presentation should also be made to the squads to give their members a chance to ask questions about it. "We can work that out," Keller said.
Keller showed a 1974 newspaper headline stating that a committee had backed the merger of the two squads then. It's not a new idea, he said, and it is perhaps more important now because of the dwindling number of volunteers available during the day.
The plan would include charges for emergency transportation, reimbursable through Medicare, Medicaid and insurance companies. For those without that coverage, Keller said, an annual fee of about $40 could be charged to cover transportation whenever its needed.
The local governments, mainly the county, would continue to subsidize emergency medical services at existing levels, he said.
All of this could be set up within three months, Keller said, and it should be to avoid any loss of life from a delayed response.
"It can be done in 90 days," he said. "It's going to take this group to say 'Go.'"
The three governing bodies also discussed the county-wide recreation program and the possibility of a county-wide police department.
Pulaski Mayor Andy Graham said he would like to see the recreation program upgraded to include senior citizens. Dublin Councilman Benny Skeens said it should also offer more to older teen-agers. But everyone wanted the Recreation Commission to work out the details.
"When you get elected officials dabbling in it, usually they get it all fouled up," White said.
Dublin Councilman David Stanley, who had suggested a look at a county-wide law enforcement agency, was not at the meeting but had sent letters outlining his reasons. He questioned whether Dublin needed as many officers as it had, and said perhaps the county Sheriff's Department could cover the towns.
"Too many? I don't agree with that," said Skeens, a Dublin councilman. "I feel like we may actually be an officer short."
"I don't mind discussing it, but I'd like to see it left as it is," said Dublin Councilwoman Peggy Hemmings. Councilman Sam Gregory agreed. Keister, the Dublin mayor, said the state limits the number of Sheriff's Department employees for which it will pay, so more deputies could not simply be added to cover the towns.
Fariss suggested that a committee, specifically not including any of the top law enforcement officers, study the idea. "I'm not for or against this but it keeps coming up," he said. "Maybe a way to put it to rest is to have some people look at it."
As with the emergency medical services study, the individual governing bodies would look at it first individually.
by CNB