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Extra EMS crew comes at a cost
Published 6/13/2009 in Local News
By STEPHANIE FARLEY
Finney County Emergency Medical Services Director Bob Prewitt will officially request an additional crew Monday from the Finney County Commission to help with an emergency call load Prewitt has said continues to increase.
Prewitt is set to be the first to present his 2010 budget request on Monday. Also presenting are Youth Services, Finney County Fairgrounds, County Appraiser, Public Works and the Finney County Sheriff's Office.
According to EMS' proposed budget, about $278,600 is estimated in salaries and benefits for an additional six full-time personnel. The proposal states the added shift of six personnel could take effect in July 2010 — "implementation will proceed when logistically possible to provide additional protection for the county," according to the proposal.
Prewitt is presenting two proposals: one with the expansion and one without.
In Prewitt's budget proposal with the expansion, EMS is requesting $1,992,280 for 2010 — about a 26.5 percent increase over 2009's budget of $1,465,208.
The budget proposal without expansion is $1,696,384 for 2010 — a 13.6 percent increase.
Prewitt previously has shared his concerns with commissioners about EMS seeing an increase in the emergency calls and runs the service handles. It's been a challenge Prewitt has seen coming for at least a couple of years, having expressed the concern to commissioners during his monthly reports.
Currently, on any given shift, EMS has two crews and a supervisor on duty, plus Prewitt and backup. But, he said, if EMS sends a crew out of town to transfer a patient, or there are several emergency calls around the same time, the service is about maxed out on manpower.
Prewitt's concern is it's becoming more and more difficult to ensure there always is a crew on hand when an EMS call comes in. What will eventually happen if a crew isn't added, Prewitt has said, is all EMS crews will be busy and won't be able to respond to an emergency call in a timely manner.
EMS has been at the same staffing level since about the mid-1980s, Prewitt said, but emergency call volume continues to increase, particularly in the last couple of years. The last time EMS added a crew was with construction of the first coal-fired plant at Sunflower Electric Power Corp. near Holcomb. Finney County EMS provided medical services when the first plant was being built and then kept the crew on.
In a tight budget year, Prewitt isn't sure how commissioners will handle the request. But, he said, he'll simply request the crew, give the commission two budget proposals and see where the commission wants to go with his request.
In the budget with the proposed expansion, the line item for uniform expense increased from $5,000 to $15,000 to purchase additional gear (coats, uniforms, boots, etc.) for the six added workers. Prewitt also states for the increase from $4,000 to $4,500 in line item "other commodities" that, "we do not know what the additional needs will be with the additional personnel to our system, but we do know there will be additional utilization of supplies at both stations and the overall needs will increase."
The department also would need to purchase additional pagers and radios with the expansion, and the "furniture and equipment" line item would increase from $4,000 to $27,000 with six new radios at about $2,500 apiece, and furniture for new sleep facilities and additional living area additions.
Commissioner Don Doll has told Prewitt he doesn't want people waiting for an ambulance.
Prewitt doesn't want that either. In order for that not to happen, though, Prewitt feels he'll need to add staff.
"Everybody can have their input," he has said of the request.
Visit Finney County EMS and other county departments at www.finneycounty.org.
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