Communities weigh new EMS

ST. HENRY - Township trustees and village officials from southern Mercer County met Wednesday evening to discuss creating a new Emergency Medical Services district.

The EMS squads in the area are volunteer units operating under the Mercer County EMS operation.

Ryan Bollenbacher, a basic emergency medical technician in the St. Henry office, said the branch has struggled recently to attract new volunteers.

While St. Henry EMS members have kept up with roughly 300 calls per year, Bollenbacher said volunteers are hard to find. With the truly volunteer branch, people often don't want to donate their time when they have full-time jobs and limited time, Bollenbacher said.

The branch's last membership drive corralled no new members, and most people who showed interest quickly lost it when they learned they wouldn't be paid, Bollenbacher said.

County EMS director Kara Smith has said a healthy level of coverage requires 40-50 volunteers per branch. The St. Henry branch has 32 members, and it hasn't gained any in-town certified responders since February 2017.

Bollenbacher said the volunteer system can't last forever. Training requirements have increased, and competition from organizations that offer pay or other benefits is more appealing, he said.

Bollenbacher said the branch has been trying to address the issue since January 2019. After a special meeting with a county commissioner in January, the county commissioner said he opposed a paid on-call system because he didn't want to add to the county payroll.

In March, county officials proposed five plans to fix the volunteer problem. The five county options offered the following solutions: a paramedic stationed at each volunteer branch 24/7 at a cost of $458,858.50; one fully staffed ambulance in the central part of the county at a cost of $285,505.92; two fully staffed ambulances in the north and south parts of the county at a cost of $571,011.84; a chase vehicle (a regular vehicle which follows an ambulance or other EMS vehicle to a scene) available 24/7 at a cost of $152,949.30; or a chase vehicle available when EMS director Kara Smith was not working at a cost of $100,988.64.

St. Henry EMS members unanimously opposed the county proposals because they felt they didn't address their concerns or fill their needs. For example, St. Henry EMS officials said the call volume doesn't justify the cost of 24/7 paid staff at the station.

When surveyed, St. Henry EMS members said they would work more hours and would stay on board longer under a paid on-call system, with 95% of those surveyed indicating they would run more hours if incentivized.

St. Henry EMS officials feel the need to increase membership has been magnified due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as issues with on-call coverage have been amplified and the branch has had multiple uncovered shifts due to fewer available volunteers. Other branches, such as Coldwater's, already face staff shortages, Bollenbacher said.

"This needs to be fixed before it becomes a life-and-death issue," he said.

Instead of accepting any of the county proposals, St. Henry EMS officials proposed forming their own joint ambulance district for southern Mercer County, which would include Gibson, Granville, Marion and Recovery townships and the villages of Burkettsville, Chickasaw, Fort Recovery and St. Henry.

The Southern Mercer County Joint Ambulance District would operate similarly to fire districts in the county, Bollenbacher said. Once the district is formed, officials would propose a tax levy to support a paid on-call system. Bollenbacher said they would prefer to have the issue on the November general election ballot.

A board of trustees would be formed with one representative from each community, which would allow for local control of ambulance operations and to keep tax dollars local. Daily operations would be handled by squad officers and would not change how coverage is provided.

To join a district, all member entities must pass a resolution for their respective village or township. A joint resolution would then need to be passed by all entities to create the ambulance district and set the rules for the district. Finally, once the district were created, a tax levy proposal would need to be adopted by the board of trustees.

Bollenbacher said they are aiming for a five-year, 0.6-mill tax levy. While EMS officials did not have exact numbers for that proposed millage, a 0.5 mill levy would bring in $169,000 annually and would cost the owner of a $100,000 home $17.50 per year.

EMS officials estimated their first year's projected budget would be $275,000 not including capital purchases such as vehicles or other equipment.

The board of trustees would have to meet with the Mercer County EMS board to discuss ownership of the equipment and vehicles they already have on site since they are owned by the county, Bollenbacher said. Depending upon those negotiations, Bollenbacher said they would need to consider raising the millage of the proposed tax levy to cover capital purchases that would need to be made.

While there's a long road ahead, Bollenbacher and other EMS officials believe this is the right approach.

"We're doing what we believe needs to be done," Bollenbacher said.