Past year has seen better service from city due to additional EMT
By Kellen Olshefski
Editor
The Elkhorn Common Council voted in favor of a contract to continue outsourcing to a private ambulance service through 2015.
Continuing to contract with Paratech for staffing of one EMT-Intermediate Technician at the Elkhorn Fire Department helps former voids in service staffed at all times.
Coming as a recommendation from the Finance Committee, Alderman Scott McClory said the city’s portion of the about $198,000 contract would be $124,986.68. The affected surrounding municipalities served by the Elkhorn Fire Department cover the rest of the costs, according to McClory.
McClory said last year was the City’s first year with staff in the Fire Department barn as opposed to relying on volunteers.
The council first enacted the decision following concerns in late 2012 that Elkhorn’s Emergency Medical Services – operating nearly exclusively on a volunteer basis – was seeing lapses in coverage due to time commitment and availability of volunteers. The council originally approved the program for one-year, as a pilot program, reviewing its effectiveness in addressing issues and concerns of the city.
McClory said Monday evening he felt it has been fairly successful over the past year.
“I think there was a lot of really good, positive feedback that came out of it,” he said.
Elkhorn Fire Chief Rod Smith said with the additional staffing, the fire department has seen a noticeable decrease in response time over the past year.
“We were right around seven to nine [minutes] and now we’re in the three to four range,” he said Monday. “We’ve probably dropped three or four minutes off of response times…we’re doing well.”
Previously, Smith said in 2012, staffing the department – which has been volunteer-based since 1978 – was becoming increasingly difficult with people having full-time employment. At the time, Smith said with EMS program, which was not funded by tax dollars, the department was at a point where it could handle day to day costs and pay volunteers on an on-call basis, but funding full-time staff was out of the department’s reach.
Gaps in staffing resulted in longer response times for the department, though it’s important to note no one ever went without service from the department.
EMS Division Chief David Fladten said last year, the contract called for Paratech employees to be leased to the City of Elkhorn to provide the necessary staff to ensure there’s someone always on duty and covering times where lapses may occur.
The contract also required Paratech to fill any vacancy due to various instances, such as illness or time off, at no additional cost to the city.
According to Fladten, the “leased” employees worked as employees of the city while on duty for the city, wearing City of Elkhorn uniforms.
Approval of the contract by the Council was unanimous.
