Ambulances. Everyone wants one when they want one, but until they want one, they don’t want one. And, it appears a lot of people don’t want to pay to make sure one is available when they do want one.
Benton County is mired in one of the darnedest fights I have seen.
To make sure ambulance service is available, the Quorum Court voted to levy an $85 annual fee on people living outside cities. Some residents objected to the levy, and a referendum is scheduled Feb. 11.
Representatives of cities that provide ambulance service — including Rogers — have been saying for a couple of years they can no longer afford to subsidize service to rural areas.
I grew up in fire and police service and always knew if you lived out of town you could expect a response, but it would take longer. That meant your house could burn or you could be shot by an intruder before help could get to you. It’s not that the people serving in law enforcement and fire service didn’t want to help you; it just took longer to get there.
Longer could conceivably be never if something isn’t worked out on the ambulance issue. I fear people think this is all some kind of scam to get money out of them and the ambulance will show up anyhow.
If you are one of them, you might think twice.
Although our reporters have written thousands of words on the topic, I still had questions and asked Tom Jenkins, our Rogers fire chief, to walk me through the situation.
Tom said the city of Rogers underwrites rural ambulance at about $1.5 million each year. For 2014, the county will pay $317,000. That sounds like a real good deal to me.
He reached the $317,000 figure by asking himself what it would cost to start and staff an ambulance service if the Rogers Fire Department did not operate one already.
Tom will use that money to add three firefighters. Three additional paramedics will then be assigned to Station 7 on South First Street. Stations 1 and 7 respond to the bulk of the rural ambulance calls. Currently, only three firefighters are assigned to Station 7 per shift. If there is a fire or ambulance run, no one is available to staff the other equipment. Adding the paramedic-trained firefighters will alleviate that problem.
Operating an ambulance service isn’t cheap. Specialized training and equipment is expensive. Then there is the cost of supplies such as medications that have a limited shelf life and have to be replaced regularly. Remember, today’s ambulance is a mini-emergency room.
The Rogers department has mutual aid agreements with other ambulance service providers. If, for example, Northeastern Benton County’s ambulance is tied up, Rogers will respond to a call in its area based on that mutual aid agreement whether there is a contract with the county or not.
If, when 2015 rolls around and a contract with the county cannot be reached, the Rogers department will not respond outside the city as a primary responder — and that includes going to traffic accidents. Legally, Tom said he cannot respond without a contract, and his first responsibility is to ensure an adequate response for residents of Rogers who pay to be sure an ambulance is available when they need one.
Tom said he looks at the proposed $85 fee as an annual co-pay, comparing it to a co-pay at the doctor’s office. It will assure ambulance service is available.
The fire chief cannot imagine a situation in which there would be no ambulance service to rural Benton County. Whether the fee passes or not, he believes something can be worked out.
I’m older and more cynical than Tom. I see too many people who don’t/can’t/won’t look at the big picture. My question to him was who would have to say, “We can’t go.”
He assures me it won’t be the department’s line battalion chiefs, three guys I have known forever and do not believe could live with themselves if they had to say that. The calls, Tom said, would never get to the Rogers Communication Center, let alone the battalion chiefs.
In a more perfect world, Tom said regionalizing services such as fire and ambulance makes sense. Money is pooled, and there are no jurisdictional battles.
I suspect we are a ways from this logical conclusion.
If the fee doesn’t pass, I think rural residents need to ask themselves two things:
- Am I willing to roll the dice and live without ambulance service?
- What service/services do I think county officials should cut to assure ambulance service?
In the meantime, Tom said he welcomes calls from county residents who have questions about ambulance service.
LEEANNA WALKER IS LOCAL EDITOR OF THE ROGERS MORNING NEWS AND THE SPRINGDALE MORNING NEWS. FOLLOW HER ON TWITTER AT WWW.TWITTER.COM/NWALEEANNA