end the costly, duplicative training ….
end the costly, duplicative training and equipment purchase by the county’s ambulance services. He said any proposal to combine ambulance service under a single umbrella would generate “kicking and screaming” from current EMS providers, but, for the sake of “overall safety,” a county EMS needed to be pursued.
Malone said Waushara County could provide a template for a county-wide service. There, he said, the service buys ambulances in bulk and is able to save money. He said that that service is able to buy ambulances for $150,000 that current EMS providers in Marathon County pay $300,000 for. Malone said there was a training advantage of having all county EMS workers use the same equipment.
Malone said Weston would be willing to use a portion of its American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money to help pay for the feasibility study.
Committee chairman Bootz agreed that a 28 minute response time in the town of Guenther was not good. He said he doubted that an ambulance crew with this response time would be able to get a patient to a hospital within an hour and quickly enough to do much good.
The chairman agreed with Malone, however, that it will be politically difficult to replace the current ambulance services with a county EMS.
“It will take a soft touch to get this through,” he said.
County administrator Lance Leonhard said the state levy limits do not apply to county EMS.
This means the county board could, if it wanted to, raise county property taxes to pay for a county-wide EMS without hurting other county services.
Local response
Edgar Fire Chief Dave Wagener said he agreed that all county local fire de- partments struggle to find needed volunteers and there was duplication of costs but he did not support the county paying for a feasibility study of a county EMS.
“No, I’m not really in favor of it, not at this time,” he said.
Wagener said he didn’t know how a central EMS could improve service across western Marathon County where the various villages are located so far from each other. “We are so spread out,” he said. “You would have to have different satellite stations all over.”
Wagener said he could see the need for a county-wide service if rural departments, such as Edgar, were unable to locate sufficient volunteers. That time, however, he said, hasn’t come yet.
Marathon Fire Chief Mike Tylinski said he was not opposed to the county paying for a study. “How else are you going to find out?” he said.
Tylinski said the major challenge facing rural fire departments is getting enough volunteers.
“Everybody is struggling to find help,” he said.
Athens Fire Chief Brian Lavicka said his department was “fully staffed” with 33 firemen and 15 EMTs. He said he saw no reason for the county to pay for an EMS study.
“This is the first I’ve heard about it, but I am not for it at all,” he said. “I’m against it.”
Lavicka said he thought a county-run EMS would both cost more and lengthen response times.
“I don’t think it would be affordable,” he explained. “Response times would suffer.”
Stratford Fire Chief Tim Carey said he could possibly see a need for enhanced EMS on the eastern side of the county, but not on the west side, where local ambulance services provide good service.
“We are pretty well covered on the west side,” he said.
Carey said the Stratford EMS was functioning well and had progressed over the past three to four years. He did not support a county replacement.
“I don’t see the need for it, not in our community,” he said.
Going further, Carey said that he objected to using taxpayer money to fund a feasibility study. “It seems it would be a waste of taxpayer money,” he said.
