Quincy hospital wants ambulance levy

Hospital paying back $300,000 reimbursement

QUINCY — Quincy Valley Medical Center Administrator Mehdi Merred said the hospital's ambulance service is in jeopardy.

In need of a new ambulance, coupled with a desire to maintain employee training and facing $300,000 in lost reimbursement, Merred said the hospital wants to run a levy in April.

The only way it can do so is if the Grant County Fire District No. 3 emergency medical service levy fails. The levy proposal on the Feb. 6 ballot is a renewal of a current six-year levy, expiring in December.

"That's definitely not what I want," Merred said. "I cannot campaign for the failure of another entity and especially the fire (district), and I do commend them very much for what they do, and as far as I'm concerned, I truly believe that both services are needed … At, the same time it's black and white. There's no gray area."

The levy is open to first-responders, but only one entity can apply at a time in a given district. Part of the hospital and fire district overlap, Merred said.

The fire district signed its resolution one day before the hospital district, Merred said. The fire district was chosen to run the levy.

The district recently lost reimbursement it was receiving through a Medicare critical access hospital program. Medicare auditors discovered the nearest ambulance service was in Wenatchee. Merred said. Because the ambulance service is located less than 35 miles from the hospital, the hospital lost its reimbursement, he said.

Quincy Valley is now repaying $300,000, which it received in $100,000 increments from 2004 to 2006.

"$100,000 a year," Merred said. "I'm raging."

He noted the last time an ambulance was purchased was in 2001. The oldest of the hospital's three ambulances is 17 years old and has more than 100,000 miles on it and it needs to be replaced, Merred said.

Fire Chief John Fortier said the fire district collects about $120,000 per year through the ongoing levy. Money is used for expenses including training, equipment, supplies, vehicles, fuel, rescue tools and vehicle insurance.

"What we use the money for is the operation and maintenance of our current (Emergency Medical Service) that we provide throughout the fire district," he said.

Fortier said the fire district and hospital district provide different services. The fire district has seven stations covering 503 square miles, staffed with medically-trained employees.

The response time from Quincy Valley's ambulance service to some areas is 20 to 25 minutes because they have one station, he said.

"We can put medically-trained personnel on the scene 15 to 20 minutes quicker and start basic life support procedures," Fortier said.

Fortier commended the job of both agencies. He said the fire district uses the money effectively and the hospital district would too.

"I want to emphasize that we are providing a service that's different from what the hospital's providing, and they're both essential. They're both essential for the quality of life in this community," Fortier said.

He said he wished the hospital district had come to them first. He said he advised them he planned to run an emergency medical services levy because he understood they were running a maintenance and operations levy.

"The best thing that can happen is our two boards can start talking, figuring out what is best for this community," he said.