EMS Committee Hears from Chief, Director
The Emergency Medical Service (EMS) committee named by the commissioners to study EMS options for the county heard from Fire Chief Jarret Slocumb and EMS Director Ellitte Jackson at its meeting last week.
Only three voting members of the committee were present—the EMS representative Gary Norton, the Turtle Cove representative, Skip Davis, and the Shady Dale representative, Larry Champion.
Representatives from Monticello, Hillsboro, the hospital, health department, and the sheriff’s department were absent.
The previous week, for the initial meeting, the city of Monticello had two representatives there, and Jan Gaston was there from the hospital. The health department, sheriff and Hillsboro representatives have not made the first two of what is scheduled initially to be eight meetings.
Mr. Davis suggested that the committee, hopefully with all present, set a vision statement, which hopefully would be unanimous, and dis-cuss the goals and mission of the group.
The group had received a letter that Mr. Norton, EMS representative, sent to the commissioners concerning the service. He opened his remarks at the meeting by saying his ideas are not the only ideas. He said he is committed to making the best recommendation for this community.
He said he has worked here 14 years, and been through eight EMS directors and 14 county managers. He likely has the best understanding of the history and the equipment at EMS. He and Mr. Slocumb both gave some history of EMS, and more particularly, fire services. They explained that before 2000, all the volunteer fire stations were independent. Now they are all part of Jasper County Fire Services, and Chief Slocumb is the one paid employee.
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They explained for Insurance Services Organization (ISO) purposes, it takes three volunteers to equal one paid firefighter. That is one reason Mr. Norton advocates that the fire and EMS be combined, because then EMS personnel can drive apparatus to a fire scene, and count as firefighters. Most of the current EMS employees are fire certified already.
He said with four EMS employees on duty at all times, that really helps the number of available firefighters in the eyes of ISO.
When Jasper County Water & Sewer Authority first put in a water system in the north end of the county, many properties throughout the county got the benefit of the lowered ISO rating, even those who were not actually impacted by the new water source.
Chief Slocumb said that currently Shady Dale has an ISO rating of six, and every where else in the county that has water is a five. However, parts of the county not served by a public service are rated nine or 10. That applies to any structure more than five road miles from a fire station.
Mr. Davis asked if the services here had ever been combined, and Chief Slocumb responded no, but that he also thinks it’s a good idea. Otherwise you’re wasting resources.
Mr. Davis asked about the command structure if the two were combined. Mr. Norton said you would have a boss and second in command. Mr. Norton said that nationally fire services governs how they advance, and there is nothing comparable in EMS. Chief Slocumb said that when he was aware of the structure in Putnam County, the emergency services director was a basic EMT and the second in command was a paramedic.
The group then discussed the cost of any ambulance, and speculated it to be about $200,000. The county currently has two crews fully staffed, with three ambulances. However, all the ambulances have 100,000 miles or more which are hard miles for that type vehicle, they explained. They agreed that a third truck in the north end of the county would be a real asset.
They discussed that when an ambulance has to transport a patient out of the county that cuts down on the emergency ambulances available. Current protocol is not to take the second ambulance out of the county for a transport unless it is a dire emergency. They recognize that transports can be a source of revenue, but don’t recommend them at the expense of taking an emergency vehicle out of service.
Mr. Jackson said that in the last place he worked, the county footprint was similar, but the population was only 7,500. It was also served by two ambulances. Jasper County’s population is approximately 14,000 and there are 350 miles or more of road.
Mr. Davis asked the professionals about their goals.
Mr. Jackson said a decent response time would be nice. He quoted eight minutes, which is the average urban response time. The national suburban average is 10-12 minutes, and 12-14 minutes for rural areas.
Mr. Jackson said a private service would cost more money for a lot less service.
