EMS levy key to ambulance service

ROYAL CITY - As things stand now, it takes from minutes up to an hour to get ambulance service to accidents or medical emergencies in the area between Vantage and Adams County.

The quick responses may no longer occur, and the longer response times may increase if an Emergency Medical Services levy is not passed by voters in Grant County Fire Districts Nos. 10 & 11 in August.

Fire Chief Brian Evans shudders to have to frame the need for the levy that way. He fears voters will accuse him of using scare tactics.

But the truth is what it is. The ambulance service operates at a break-even level, at best, the chief said recently. Without the levy, it will probably cease.

In that case, ambulance service would have to come from Moses Lake, Othello or Mattawa. The ambulance from Fire District No. 8 (Mattawa) serves Beverly and Vantage on a contract with District No. 10.

According to EMT Basic Brad Nelson, District No. 10 has three ambulances. They serve the needs of both districts with volunteer Emergency Medical Technicians. They cost about $125,000 each and must be replaced in a timely fashion to keep up with modernity.

EMT Intermediate Laura Roecks noted the last EMS levy, in effect for 10 years, will end this year. The August election is for a replacement levy. The levy rate will be the same as before, 25 cents per $1,000 of property valuation.

Evans said the district is asking for six years because of the volatile economy. He said the levy will bring in about $80,000 a year.

According to Evans, the funds are needed to make up the difference between billings for service and actual payment. Of every $1,000 billed, he said, about $700 is collected. And calls that do not end in a transport aren't even billed.

"The taxes are for having the service in place," Evans said.

Roecks has first-hand knowledge of the need for ambulance service. Her husband was severely injured in a fall on their small farm with two breaks on both bones in the same leg.

Roecks knew enough to help her husband minimally on site. She was grateful when the ambulance appeared with trained emergency medical personnel. The incident encouraged her to become a volunteer.

Later Roecks was involved in a call that took her from her residence near Adams County to nearly the other side of the county. It took nearly an hour to arrive, after stopping in Royal City for the ambulance.

A recent call occurred about half a mile from Nelson's residence. He arrived nearly instantly and was able to assess the need. But the ambulance took longer to arrive. Volunteer Sena Snyder had to drive to the station and then take the ambulance to the emergency.