Ambulance debate resurfaces with county leaders

By

News

August 24, 2011 - 12:00 AM

It’s a new day, Ken Rowe told Allen County commissioners Tuesday morning, and time to look again at how ambulance service is delivered in Allen County.
Rowe is one of eight Iola councilmen, although he spoke, he said, as both a citizen and an elected representative of Iola.
“I feel Dick (Works, a commissioner who was absent Tuesday) was sincere when he said (two weeks ago) that Iola’s ambulance service wasn’t up to par with Allen County’s,” Rowe said. “But, I believe the city’s care is at a high level and I urge you to talk to as many people as you can.”
Iola managed the countywide service for many years. About six years ago the county took over and in 2009, Iola bought ambulances and began service within the city independent of the county. Meanwhile, the county purchased a building in the 400 block of North State Street and has two ambulances stationed there, as well as one each in Humboldt and Moran.
A sticking point for many citizens is what they consider the folly have having ambulances operating from stations four blocks apart. Iola’s are at the fire station and operated by firefighters trained as emergency medical technicians and paramedics.
The county has type I service, which means a paramedic accompanies each run. Iola has five paramedics, with two more about to be certified, and city officials say a paramedic is available for every run.
“I think Iola has come a long way,” said Commission Chairman Rob Francis, and, claiming his comments were as a citizen though they came during a commission session, added that he thought “Iola would have a difficult time maintaining a type I service, where you have to have a paramedic on every run.”
Then, he and Commissioner Gary McIntosh took the high road.
“I’m uncomfortable saying anything with the five-year mutual agreement we have with Iola,” Francis added.
The agreement from Aug. 31, 2010, was part of larger negotiations between county and city for the city to support construction of a new hospital with nine years of proceeds from a quarter-center Iola sales tax, in an amount not to exceed $350,000 annually.
They decided then on a five-year moratorium on ambulance talks, effective Jan. 1 of this year. A part of the pact was appointment of a six-member citizens committee, anytime after the agreement’s effective date, “to study the state of EMS (emergency medical services) in Iola and Allen County.” The “committee is to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the current EMS systems and make such non-binding recommendations as they believe will improve the efficiency and quality of the existing system.”
County commissioners are to appoint three members, city councilmen the other three.
No movement has occurred on a committee, although McIntosh raised the issue following a presentation on Aug. 2 by the city ambulance director, Ron Conaway.
Tuesday he said initiation should come from the city, whenever the new city government body, eight councilmen and a mayor, were settled into their roles.

ROWE didn’t embrace the agreement, made by the predecessor city commission.
“I don’t think the committee route is the best way to go,” he said. “We (he and other councilmen) were elected to represent the city and you two (McIntosh and Francis) were elected on a mandate to solve” the ambulance issue.
He proposed Iola’s councilmen and county commissioners huddle, as a committee of 11, and hash out an agreement to merge the two services in some manner.
Francis said concerted efforts were made soon after he and McIntosh took office in January 2009 to resolve the issue.
“I met for five months with Mayor Bill Shirley and Ron Conaway,” he said. “I thought we had something worked out but at the last minute it broke down.”
Rowe asked to be privy to what was discussed. On recommendation of County Counselor Alan Weber, Francis said he would keep discussions private.
Weber said that was kosher, since none of the information was made public during a county commission meeting and wasn’t, Francis said, relayed to either of the other county commissioners.

Related
March 10, 2012
January 11, 2012
August 3, 2011
August 26, 2010