Benton County Ambulance Debate Gets Back To Basics

— Benton County officials will look backward in their search for a solution to the ongoing rural ambulance service issue.

County Judge Bob Clinard is updating information for the Quorum Court about the interest of private ambulance providers serving the county. The county had examined that possibility when a study was done in 2012, but Clinard said he will check again.

AT A GLANCE

Ambulance Bill

Benton County’s justices of the peace are working on paying the cost to provide rural ambulance service through the end of 2014. The county appropriated $236,000 for ambulance service in the 2014 budget to pay the seven providers through the end of March. After voters rejected the county’s proposed funding plan, the Quorum Court began looking for money to pay the remaining amount requested by the cities. The justices of the peace have approved cutting the Road Department budget by $450,000 and are still debating how to fund another $256,000. The county’s Finance Committee is set to meet at 6 p.m. April 1.

Source: Staff Report

"They were contacted two or three years ago when we first started looking into this," Clinard said Monday. "We'll revisit this, but I believe they all said there wasn't anything to talk about unless they could have all of the county business. We're going to re-open that discussion to have something to document, to show the court that, yes, we've talked about it."

Kurt Moore, justice of the peace for District 13, said the Quorum Court is reviewing all options in the wake of the February rejection by voters of a planned emergency medical services district and fee to fund the service.

"I don't know if we're back to square one, but we're definitely back to square two," Moore said.

Moore doesn't see any changes coming from the continuing discussion and review, but the election told him people were unaware of the work the county already had done.

"I think we've found a system that we can make work," Moore said of the current arrangement where cities provide rural ambulance service. "I'm willing to talk to anybody and listen to what they have to say, but I seriously don't think they can do it cheaper than what we've got."

The justices of the peace discussed working with rural volunteer fire departments to build an ambulance service to cover the rural areas at a March 12 meeting of the county's Public Safety Committee. That discussion will continue, said Patrick Carr, committee chairman.

Chief Mark Finocchio of the Beaver Lake Fire Department said at the same March 12 meeting his department is in talks with neighboring fire departments about establishing an ambulance service for the area along Arkansas 12 east of Rogers. Finocchio estimated such a service could be operational by January 2016, and his department's combined fire and EMS budget could be as much as $1.2 million. Finocchio said his department's current fire budget is about $250,000. Carr said those figures make him question the likelihood of the idea succeeding.

"If the volunteer fire departments want to get into it, that's their option," Carr said. "If they can persuade those taxpayers to tax themselves to support the service that's their choice. But those taxpayers are still county taxpayers and I have a hard time understanding why they should tax them $900,000 for a little part of the county when we can cover the whole county for $1.1 million. I don't get it."

Carr said he will call another committee meeting in the next few weeks to continue the discussion. He said he doesn't know how or if the committee will resolve the issue.

"I think we've got two options -- to do it ourselves or continue to play with the municipalities," he said. "Our committee needs to decide what we think the county needs to do. If we can't, maybe we need to kick it to the Finance Committee and say, 'It is what it is' and we need to find a way to pay for it. I don't have an answer right now."

Susan Anglin, justice of the peace for District 9, said she wants to have the updated information for the justices of the peace and for the public.

"From the things that came up in the community forums, I want to make sure we've explored it all again and to make it public so our citizens will know we've considered every option," Anglin said. "I don't think we're going to find out the information is different from what we've been told."

Anglin said she has also asked Clinard to provide information on the county's options for funding the ambulance service through a county sales tax or a special millage. She has also asked Fire Marshal Marc Trollinger to contact all of the county's rural fire departments to gauge their interest in participating in some kind of ambulance service.

"Information gathering is kind of the place we're in right now," she said.

While Clinard has said he will discuss ambulance service with private companies again, Carr pointed out the county can't guarantee any company a monopoly on ambulance service across the county.

"Legally, we cannot give them what they have always said they need," Carr said.

Chief Tom Jenkins of the Rogers Fire Department said he can't see any of the municipal fire departments giving up their ambulance service.

"EMS is integrated into the very DNA of our fire department," Jenkins said. "I don't think it's even possible, in the way we deliver services, to extract EMS from the fire service."

Jenkins said Rogers and other larger fire departments cross-train their personnel as firefighters and paramedics. In Rogers, for example, Jenkins said five of six fire trucks are essentially paramedic-equipped fire trucks with personnel who can render medical assistance.

"I think it's a flaw to even assume you can take one away from the other," Jenkins said.

Jenkins said he's familiar with the proposal being considered by the Beaver Lake department and suggested if the county is looking for a model on how to operate a rural ambulance service the Northeast Benton County Fire Department provides a guide.

"If Beaver Lake wants to get into the ambulance service I'm all in favor of it," he said. "Look at what NEBCO, and before them the Volunteer Ambulance Service, did. They turned that into a success story and a good model. Going forward, that is the best model for the county, a locally operated ambulance service is the most cost-effective and best for the patient."

NEBCO officials said no one had contacted them for information about their operation. Kara Funk, chairman of the NEBCO board of directors, and Rob Taylor, NEBCO fire chief, both said establishing a local service will take hard work and time to build the level of community support needed. They pointed to the vote last year to increase the NEBCO ambulance service dues from $40 to $100 a year, which passed by a margin of just four votes.

"It's not just the board and it's not just the chief. You've got to have the support of the community," Funk said.

The NEBCO ambulance service operates on a budget of about $450,000 a year, with four full-time emergency medical technicians and 17 part-time paramedics, Taylor said. Paramedics can start IVs, administer drugs or medications and operate cardiac monitors, Taylor said. EMTs are more restricted to things like performing CPR, providing oxygen and basic first aid.

NEBCO took two years laying the groundwork for the fee increase election in a district that had provided ambulance service for nearly three decades, Taylor said. Funding will be the most difficult aspect of setting up any new service, he said.

"Community support, that's the timetable that's going to decide whether you're successful," he said. "You can get a service up and running in a few months. The struggle will be to get the money in place. That's going to take you a year. It's critical the area fire chiefs get input from the community on what kind of service they want."

NW News on 03/25/2014

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