Answering the call: Metro West Ambulance adjusting to its duties in Baker County

Feb. 17—The transition from a public to a private ambulance service in Baker City happened Oct. 1, 2022, and the regional manager for the new provider, Metro West Ambulance, said the company is becoming more familiar with the area.

Two of the company's five paramedics are local, one from Haines and one from Eagle Valley, said Tim Novotny, regional manager for Metro West.

Novotny manages a crew that includes five emergency medical technicians (EMTs) as well as the five paramedics.

Metro West has three ambulances based in Baker City, with a fourth to join the fleet soon.

The company's headquarters are in a building at the southeast corner of Second Street and Washington Avenue, across Second Street from the Methodist Church.

Baker County commissioners, who under Oregon law are responsible for ensuring ambulance service in the county, including within Baker City, voted June 8, 2022, to hire Metro West, one of two firms that submitted a proposal, for a five-year contract.

Commissioners said at the time that the decision was relatively easy, in part due to Metro West's longevity and in part because the company is not receiving any financial subsidy from the county.

The other proposal, from an Idaho company, asked for Baker County and Baker City to pay $1.28 million the first year, with an expected 3% annual increase thereafter.

"We've been in the ambulance business since 1953, we're the largest, and oldest, privately owned ambulance services in the West," Novotny said. "I've been working for this family of companies since 1996, so I'm on my 27th year with the organization. I started in Oregon, in Coos Bay, and then as we grew as an organization I helped start (an ambulance service) in Eugene, then Roseburg, and helped manage another in Crescent City, California."

City dropped ambulance service last year

Metro West's presence in Baker City stems from a discussion the Baker City Council started in March 2022.

City Manager Jonathan Cannon told councilors during a meeting that month that he didn't believe the city could afford to have the fire department continue to operate ambulances due to escalating costs for the service and limits on how much the city could collect from ambulance billing, particularly for the majority of local clients who are on Medicare or Medicaid.

Councilors discussed the issue throughout the spring, and despite opposition from the public and the union representing firefighters, councilors ultimately declined to submit a proposal to the county to continue as ambulance provider. That led county commissioners to choosing Metro West in early June 2022.

The company moved ambulances to Baker City that month and handled most ambulance calls during the summer.

The Baker City Fire Department officially ended its ambulance service Sept. 30, 2022, and Metro West has been the sole provider since.

Metro West crews enjoying Baker City

Novotny said he was eager to have a chance to work and live again in a rural area, having started his career in Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 1993.

"When the service came to Baker County I had to jump on the opportunity," Novotny said. "I had always dreamed of coming back to a rural area."

Although most of the Metro West workers in Baker City are relatively new to town — and some are commuting from Idaho — Novotny said he's striving to add more local personnel in addition to the paramedics from Haines and Eagle Valley.

He emphasized that all Metro West's paramedics and EMTs are experienced.

"The least amount of seniority on the team is probably eight years," Novotny said. "Mark (Jones-Orak, a paramedic), he's got 35 years. So these are not new paramedics."

Novotny said some paramedics from the Baker City Fire Department did internships with some of Metro West's current employees.

Jones-Orak, who lived in Portland, said he bought a house in Baker City in 2019, thinking he would retire here.

"We fell in love with the town when we bought the house" Jones-Orak said. "I used to work four days on, four days off, every four days off we'd come over here to spend the time remodeling and getting to know Baker. It definitely feels like home. On top of that, leaving the rat race of Portland, it's been a good move for me."

He was contemplating retiring last year when he saw that Metro West was starting an ambulance service in Baker City.

"I thought it was a sign," he said.

Novotny said other Metro West employees are also enamored with Baker City.

"The (crew) that moved into town absolutely loved it and they want to make this their forever home," he said. "Everyone we have interacted with has been phenomenal."

Concerns and challenges

Novotny said Metro West crews continue to familiarize themselves with the area — necessary knowledge for workers that could be called at any time to any address in the Baker Ambulance Service Area, which includes Baker City as well as much of the rest of the county, including Baker Valley and the Sumpter area.

Metro West is also the ambulance provider for the Huntington area in the southeast corner of Baker County.

Novotny said Metro West employees have gone on ride-alongs with county officials to become more acquainted with the area.

A call to Anthony Lakes last month exposed some flaws in the GPS tools Metro West was using, prompting them to ask the Baker County Sheriff's Office for an escort to the scene, though the ambulance wasn't significantly delayed, Novotny said.

"Training is what we're adding, district familiarization," he said. "It will take a while to learn the geography. The county dispatchers are doing a phenomenal job just helping us to the scene, and it really shows in their teamwork."

Under the recommendations of local officials, Metro West recently switched to offline map software Avenza to better accommodate the county's terrain, which in some places lacks cell service.

Novotny said Metro West workers have met with other ambulance services in the county, including the Halfway/Oxbow and Eagle Valley service areas.

"We really appreciate Baker City Fire, and Baker Rural Fire," Novotny said, citing two other local agencies. "We're still excited to get out and meet the rest of the agencies, now that we have a full crew here to get past our first hurdle. We've teamed up to all work under the same medical control physician and we're working under the same patient care treatment protocols, as well as partnering with them to coordinate supplies and medications. It was a great step forward."

Novotny said Metro West looks forward to joint trainings to further cement their cooperation.

"When I met with the fire chiefs, they were apprehensive, but we're excited to be here, we're gonna grow with this community and work with the other agencies," Novotny said after a meeting that included chiefs from Haines, Baker, Unity and Powder River fire districts, as well as the BLM and Jason Yencopal, the county's emergency manager.

Yencopal said although he has discussed some issues, including familiarity with county addressing, with Metro West, the county hasn't received any formal written complaints about the company.

"We're working on our systems to make sure they come across clearly to Metro West," Yencopal said. "Our dispatchers have been great. We have had no major issues (with Metro West). They've been very open to making improvements possible."

A recent letter to the editor published in the Herald cited what the writer considered poor treatment, by a Metro West employee, of a man who fell and hurt himself at the Baker City Senior Center.

Jones-Orak responded by writing a letter acknowledging the original author's concerns, and noting that the employee in question was no longer working for Metro West.

Novotny said the company is committed to Baker County.

"We're here for the long haul," he said. "We have never left somewhere we've been as a 911 ambulance, that's over 70 years."