GC 5 receives trauma verification license

Both district and MLFD cautiously optimistic about impact on services

Grant County Fire District 5 has received its trauma verification license, ending a process that lasted years and that sometimes threatened the tenuous relationship between the district and the Moses Lake Fire Department.

"It's in everybody's best interest," said Roger Hansen, Grant County Fire District 5 Chief. "Especially the taxpayers."

The license, which allows the district to be responsible for trauma calls within its area of response, will put an end to an ongoing contention by the city, Hansen said.

"The city has appealed and litigated that trauma verification for over two years now," he said. "It has now concluded in the exact place where we tried to go two years ago."

Helms said that the the department had agreed to drop its appeal "knowing full well that this would occur."

Both sides remain cautious about how it is going to change the relationship between the entities, which has been somewhat contentious in the past.

"If it improves the relationship between the departments, that's great," Hansen said. "That improvement is up to (the MLFD)."

David Helms, MLFD chief, said that the main change would be the fact that the city of Moses Lake would essentially become the department's primary response area.

Corbin Moberg, MLFD assistant chief, said he was not sure how the relationship would be affected, except that the department is no longer obligated to respond to calls in the county.

On one hand, Moberg said it was good to finally settle the issue, which had dragged on for a couple of years, and to have the MLFD concentrate their services on the city.

"It's a plus for the citizens," he said.

On the other hand, Moberg said that not responding to calls outside city limits may mean a revenue loss for the department, but not a substantial one. Helms said he anticipated the loss to reach about $30,000 per year.

"It's not too bad a hit," Helms said, adding that Medicare reimbursements from the patients transferred by MLFD would help counteract the revenue loss.

Conversely, Hansen said there would be a "minimal" revenue hike for his district from the calls that the MLFD had "siphoned off and managed to get out of our area" would now be in the district's hands.

Hansen said that response time may slightly increase for residents in the Mae Valley area, which is outside city limits.

This is because the district would have to respond to those calls from their station on Nelson Road, which is farther away than the MLFD's Station 2 on Broadway.

"If you live in Mae Valley," Helms said. "I would not see this as an improvement on the delivery of services."

On the other hand, Helms said that the service would become more efficient in other areas, as the two departments would no longer be responding to the same calls.