‘Bottom line: We have to protect our citizens’

Published 5:00 pm Tuesday, August 29, 2006

PACIFIC COUNTY – The cities of Long Beach, Ilwaco and Chinook may soon have a different emergency medical service provider than Pacific County Fire District No. 1, which has been providing ambulance service for the past several years.

The city councils of Long Beach and Ilwaco, and the board of commissioners for Pacific County Fire District No. 2, which serves Chinook, have each authorized participation and appointment of representatives in the formation of an intergovernmental EMS Task force to consider hiring an outside ambulance service provider. Currently the newly-formed task force is in negotiations with Medix Ambulance service which operates out of Oregon.

The cities are still in negotiation with District No. 1 to continue service and consider a means of funding the service, but there has been a definite chilling in the talks between the groups.

On July 11, District No. 1, sent out letters to the cities stating, “This letter serves as formal notice that the Pacific County Fire District No. 1 will terminate the current emergency medical services provided by the District. … effective Dec. 31, 2006.”

The letter cited as a reason that, “we can no longer provide emergency medical services without equal funding support.” Currently, those cities do not have levies in place for those services. Taxpayers in the district currently pay a levy to fund those services and there is a levy on the Primary ballot to raise that levy to 85 cents per thousand dollars of property value. No levies are on the ballot for Long Beach, Ilwaco or Chinook.

At a special meeting of the Long Beach City Council Aug. 24, Council member Gordon Zuern said, “We have little time to spare,” given the deadline laid out by District No. 1.

“Bottom line,” said Council member Jerry Phillips, “we have to protect our citizens.”

“It’s sad it’s going in this direction,” said Council member Ralph Moore.

Mayor Ken Ramsey agreed, but also expressed several concerns. Based on the demands of District No. 1 and the time-line involved, Ramsey said he felt the there was a need to move forward with finding an alternative provider. “If it (negotiations) falls apart with district, we have to have something else lined up.”

At contention is funding issues and potential levy rates, but also the contract that the district delivered. For Long Beach, the District is asking for the equivalent of a 50-cent levy per $1,000 dollars, or $92,500 for service for next year. Long Beach residents currently pay $450 and $14.25 per mile for a basic ambulance call. Phillips said, “the numbers did not make sense.” Council member Fred Cook also said he believed hiring an outside ambulance service would save citizens money.

Council members expressed concern that the District’s contract did not allow adequate input from the cities on how that money would be spent. Basically, they compared it to taxation without representation.

The council approved participation in the task force, as well as appointed members to the EMS Task Force board.

Pacific County Fire District No. 2 board of commissioners, an elected body, passed a similar resolution authorizing participation last week. Ilwaco City Council members gave their approval at their Aug. 28 meeting.

The task force has a lot to accomplish in a small amount of time. Some of the members have already been researching the rights and responsibilities of the involved parties and the process for getting another service provider in the county.

Two categories of service are provided by ambulance services, ALS and BLS. ALS services are trauma calls, such as accident victims and fall victims. They must have personnel available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. BLS services are the more common and routine runs, including transportation between various hospitals or nursing homes.

Although based on state law, District No. 1 would still have to provide ALS services to the area until another provider is contracted, but may be able to stop BLS service. However, they discovered, the Ilwaco Fire Department is already certified as a BLS provider, and may take over those duties.

Complicating the matter, there is some question about the number of ALS providers allowed in the county. Currently, there are two, District No. 1 and the North District, based in Raymond. There is some question on whether the number of providers for Pacific County, determined by the Governor’s Steering Committee, is actually two or three. If only two, the matter would have to go before that board in November.

It is possible that for approval, all details would have to be in place, such as an interlocal agreement between the cities and a contract with Medix. That company would have to have obtained certification in the state of Washington. Oregon and Washington’s certifications are not interchangeable. Other details still need to be worked out, such as where Medix rigs would be stationed.

Although the city task force representatives say they would still like to work with District No. 1, they are still moving ahead quickly. They held their first meeting Tuesday. The results of that meeting will appear in next week’s Chinook Observer.

Even if the process takes longer than expected, there will still be ambulance service for the cities. As David Glasson, city finance director and member of the Long Beach Fire Department, said, “They’re not going to throw you in jail for operating and EMS service.”