Half of EMS Committee Meets

The Emergency Medical Service (EMS) committee developed by the Jasper County Board of Commissioners had its first meeting Wednesday, July 17, with half of the appointed members attending.

Jan Gaston, representing Jasper Memorial Hospital was there, as was Skip Davis representing Turtle Cove and Larry Champion, representing Shady Dale.

Both Mayor Pro-tem Bobby Jacobs and Councilman Larry Thurman from the city of Monticello attended.

County Manager Karen Degges said there was no problem with there being more than one representative from a group, but there could be only one voting member of each group on the committee. The committee is governed by open meeting laws, so are open to anyone.

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Only committee members are likely to give input. Interested persons are welcome to attend, and can communicate with committee members outside of the meeting.

Committee members unable to attend last week included the representative from the EMS service, the sheriff’s office, Hillsboro and the health department. Originally it was a nine-member committee, but the county does not have a member; Ms. Degges is the facilitator. The county asked the Board of Education if it would like to name someone to the committee, and the board declined.

Although it is not clear precisely the purpose of the committee, the group began by discussing EMS service objectives, and then the options. They plan to do an EMS operational review. The committee members left the meeting with data about the current service’s budget and data on the number of calls run.

The group is scheduled to meet each Wednesday at 3 p.m. in the Commissioner’s Meeting Room in the Courthouse from now through August. The commissioners would like a recommendation in 60 days, said Ms. Degges, and if that’s not possible, then 90 days at the most.

Mr. Jacobs said he would like to know the history behind the current EMS service, and get educated to know better what they are looking at.

Mr. Davis said he felt the committee should internalize having its own minutes, chair, etc., so the county manager facilitator does not affect the recommendation of the whole. Mr. Davis also said he would like to hear from the EMS director about goals, objectives, and stats on current service (which were provided at the meeting, but not before).

Mrs. Gaston said she would like to hear from surrounding counties and similar size counties about their structure. She also is interested in the five year turnover rate of medics in the county.

Mr. Davis said he would like to know about the results of privatization in other counties.

Mr. Jacobs said everybody needs to be bidding on the same process, and Mrs. Gaston suggested private companies are not going to share that information with a citizen committee. Mr. Jacobs said he thought it was part of the committee’s task to do a cost analysis.

Mr. Davis also said he would like to see the training level of the current medics and to interview the medics. In addition, the want to evaluate existing equipment.