Ambulance companies quizzed by county committee
Oct. 30—Members of the Effingham County Ambulance Oversight Committee this week continued their review of three ambulance services that want to provide 911 ambulance service for the county.
Representatives from Rural Med, Lakeside EMS and Abbott EMS were all in attendance at a Wednesday meeting to answer any questions by the committee. Abbott EMS is currently the 911 ambulance service provider for Effingham County. Only one ambulance service will be chosen out of the three that submitted proposals.
Under the leadership of Committee Chairman Rob Arnold, members reviewed each response made to questions asked by the committee. Arnold went through each written response to the questions and allowed committee members to ask representatives of the companies follow up questions.
"All three vendors met our guidelines for turning documentation in," Arnold said.
A series of questions were in reference to minimum service requirements each ambulance company is required to meet. The ambulance company picked to serve Effingham County will begin operations May 1 of 2022, starting with a three-year contract.
Some of the questions related to proof of all licenses through the Illinois Department of Public Health and what regions they are authorized to provide emergency services, how many employees are certified as lead instructors, how many paramedics and EMTs are employed, average response time to calls, whether or not they agree with the termination service requirement. Each company was asked if they agreed with the penalties for contract violation.
How many medics and EMTs?
Rural Med said it currently has no staff dedicated to Effingham County due to not having a need or contractual obligation. They believe that we will retain 30-50 percent of those working for the current provider, as has happened in the past when providers changed. Rural med said it also has supplemental staff from its St. Elmo, Vandalia and Greenville bases. Crews will be working 24 hours on, with 48 hours off in a five day stretch of time off every three weeks.
Lakeland EMS said it has plenty of medics and EMTs to fill a five-truck roster. However, with Lakeside not having a current contract in Effingham County, staffing five trucks would not make any sense. The additional staff is working at its other four locations. They said they now staff two trucks in Effingham County. They said they have a total of seven paramedics and 11 EMTs working in Effingham County. They said they would have additional staff to pull if a contract is awarded.
Abbott EMS said they have more than 50 experienced caregivers — 20 Paramedics and 28 EMTs working in the county.
Response time
The committee asked the candidates if they would comply with the response time requirements specified by the county, asking if it was achievable and for the companies to offer any recommendations or concerns:
Rural Med said it would comply. The company said it was concerned the times to scene may be very fluid based on traffic, farm machinery, construction, trains, weather and location of ambulance at the time of dispatch. It said any violation in the response time should be reviewed collaboratively to evaluate whether or not a situation warranted a longer response time.
Lakeside EMS said it would comply. Lakeside said the fines should be for legitimate reasons. It said if the weather is bad, there shouldn't be a fine compared to just being short staffed.
Abbott EMS said it could adhere to the response times and that it has a history of compliance. It said the committee should consider adding an ambulance posting strategy to aid in service outlying areas.
Rate increase?
The committee asked the candidates whether they agreed with the county's stipulation for no rate increases during the first 12 months of the contract:
Rural Med, Lakeside EMS and Abbott EMS all agreed to no rate increases during that time frame.
Arnold said the next special meeting of the committee is Wednesday, Nov. 3 at 6 p.m. He said if they needed another meeting to decide which ambulance company they would be choosing it would be during their regular monthly meeting Nov. 9.
Two release forms for each ambulance company was distributed by Arnold that needs to signed allowing Bushue HR to perform a background check on each organization. He said they would need to return the signed forms as soon as possible to the Effingham County Board Office Administrator Deb Ruholl.
Charles Mills can be reached at charles.mills@effinghamdailynews.com or by phone at 217-347-7151 ext. 126.
