Ron Conaway, Iola’s emergency medical service director, said he hoped to have a proposal for a potential merger of Iola’s and Allen County’s ambulance services ready for public consumption by Oct. 8. That’s when Iola’s city councilmen gather for their next regular meeting.
Conaway and Jason Nelson, the county’s emergency medical service director, were asked by a committee to come up with a proposed merger.
Conaway admitted to being caught off guard by Nelson last week, who told county commissioners the meetings with Conaway had gotten “nowhere.”
“It’s been suggested that I was less than cooperative,” Conaway told Iola City Council members Monday. “I can assure you that was not the case. I’m willing to consider any idea he has and will continue to do so. Hopefully we can come up with something that is palatable to all parties and beneficial to the county as a whole.”
THE COMMENTS voiced by County Commissioner Dick Works last week struck a nerve with City Councilman Scott Stewart.
“It came up again… the reason the county ‘took over’ the ambulance service was because there were ‘poor and/or dangerous activities’ on the part of our paramedics. Has this ever been documented?” Stewart asked Conaway.
“There’s been a lot of misinformation, whether intentional or not, put out for public consumption for the past several years,” Conaway responded. “I know of no instances where our people have given grossly substandard care. As a matter of fact, if you talk to the medical director (Dr. Timothy Spears), who’s been medical director for both of our services, I think you’ll find quite a different story.”
Stewart said his query came about after hearing second-hand that Iola has asked for instances in which the city has provided substandard care. Those requests have been denied, Stewart said, due to patient privacy laws.
“The thing I don’t understand is if you’re going to charge your doctor with malpractice, which is essentially the same thing in my book, wouldn’t you have to tell him what it was he supposedly did wrong?” Stewart asked
“You would think so,” Conaway said. “Like I said, there’s been a lot of misinformation put out there. The city, probably wisely, has asked us not to get into a head-butting match over issues like that. But it does have an unfortunate effect of people reading something over and over again for several years, they get to where they believe it.”
Conaway also refuted County Commissioner Rob Francis’ contention that an earlier round of negotiations — shortly after he was elected to his county position — were near an agreement that fell apart at the last minute.
“We had multiple talks, had multiple ideas, but at no time were we on the edge of an agreement,” Conaway said. “Every time we mentioned any scenario where the city of Iola continued to provide EMS, it was immediately vetoed.”
“I have the privilege of working in both Humboldt and Moran,” Stewart replied. “There’s an unfortunate perception among a lot of people … for whatever reason there’s a push to do away with Humboldt and Moran ambulances, but that’s not the case at all. That’s not our intention. We have no animosity toward anybody. We’re just trying to provide the best service we can.”
“I agree,” Conaway responded.
Conaway urged all in attendance with questions or concerns about Iola’s ambulance service to question what he described as an unbiased, professional source: the staff at Allen County Hospital.
“To suggest we give substandard care without any kind of proof does a disservice to every one of these people sitting here tonight,” Conaway said.
