Logan County Ambulance is having trouble handling the number of people needing to be transferred from Sterling to facilities in other locations.
Sterling Fire Chief Kurt Vogel and Captain Lavon Ritter, along with Julie Klein, chief executive officer of Sterling Regional MedCenter, met with the Logan County Commissioners Tuesday during a work session to discuss how to make it possible for the ambulance service to be able to transfer more people.
Vogel explained when they were putting the ambulance system in place they weren't able to get figures from SRM or the former ambulance service, Lifecare, about how many transfers they did. They estimated the number of transfers they would need to do, but there are more transfers than they anticipated.
According to Klein, in July SRM had a total of 24 transfers. Of those, SFD took 54 percent or 13, Yuma took three, Fort Morgan took one, Medevac took five and EagleMed took one. In June, SRM had 22 transfers with 24 percent taken by SFD and 36 percent taken by Medevac; in May, there were 21 transfers and SFD took 62 percent; in April there 18 transfers and SFD took 44 percent.
“What we have seen in the last couple months is we have not been able to get transfers out sometimes when we need to get transfers out,” she said. “There are some really critical issues that are occurring in the last couple months. So, I feel like we really need to look at this and make some decisions about how we can change coverage.”
Klein pointed out that SFD isn't equipped to do critical transports and previous administration at SRM had not been willing to send a nurse with SFD, so they could do the transports. However, she said she doesn't see any reason why SRM can't send a nurse -- only in critical situations, for example if the patient needs help breathing -- because “it's the right thing to do.”
“We're willing to step up and do what we need to do to support the fire department and help them with these issues,” she said.
Vogel said he has changed the way SFD handles transports, which has helped, but it's not enough.
“We're doing better than what we were, but we're still not doing good enough,” he said.
Vogel suggested the best solution would be to “have another staffed ambulance out on the street” to cover transfers and 911 calls.
“Looking at some of the numbers, I think putting an additional ambulance on would pay for itself,” he said.
Vogel pointed out that if the hospital decided to handle transfers, which is something Klein said they don't want to do, the county could lose a lot of revenue.
He said that SFD should be able to do 99 percent of the transfers if another ambulance is added.
Klein said SRM will do a contract with the fire department to pay for some of the self-pay transfers, because some people just don't have the means to pay. She said that should help the county offset some of the costs of adding another ambulance.
Commissioner Dave Donaldson asked if the fire station has enough space to accommodate the added crew members. Vogel said the station can't right now and they've got to look at some other options to address that issue.
The commissioners asked the group to come back to them in the near future, with information about the fiscal impact of adding another ambulance, what it would cost the county and what the options are to address the transfer issues.
In other business, the commissioners met with Brent Davis, of Peetz Telephone Cooperative, to follow up on a conversation they had last week regarding right of way access through the Industrial Park to install a fiber optic line.
County Attorney Alan Samber reviewed the agreements in place already on the property.
“The idea that the county can allow Peetz to come down the existing 30-foot utility easement, down to north boundary of the Industrial Park, I don't think squares with the intent of the original agreements that created the parks,” he said.
Samber pointed out that the 30-foot easement is designed for fiber optic, water and sewer lines and until the water and sewer lines are engineered and installed it probably isn't a good idea to put a fiber optic line in the easement right of way.
He also said that starting fiber optic lines at this point, when the final plat hasn't been approved yet, could cause problems as far as future flexibility as far as how that site's developed.
“The other issue is coming down through the Industrial Park with a buried line is going to interfere with future needs to do earth moving out there, because there's a lot of earth moving that's got to be done before the railroad infrastructure can be installed.”
Samber said he doesn't think it's very practical to come down the right of way from the north end of the Industrial Park.
“I think the better option is to go where the current temporary line is and look at getting an extension of your permit from the State Land Board and getting a license or easement from the county to get that line through the west side of the landfill property,” he said.
The commissioners agreed with him.
Prior to the work session, during their business meeting the commissioners acknowledged receipt of the semi-annual financial report of the county treasurer for Jan. 1, 2013 through June.
They also approved an intergovernmental agreement between Logan County, acting by and through the county clerk and recorder, and Haxtun School District RE-2J, concerning the conduct of a coordinated election on Nov. 5.
An agreement between Logan County and Pauley Construction, Inc. for use of the county's right of way across County Road 31 and Desert Drive, for a phone line, was postponed again, due to the date on the paperwork being prior to the current date. The agreement was postponed at last week's meeting and at the time of this week's meeting no new information had been received.
Sterling Fire Chief Kurt Vogel and Captain Lavon Ritter, along with Julie Klein, chief executive officer of Sterling Regional MedCenter, met with the Logan County Commissioners Tuesday during a work session to discuss how to make it possible for the ambulance service to be able to transfer more people.
Vogel explained when they were putting the ambulance system in place they weren't able to get figures from SRM or the former ambulance service, Lifecare, about how many transfers they did. They estimated the number of transfers they would need to do, but there are more transfers than they anticipated.
According to Klein, in July SRM had a total of 24 transfers. Of those, SFD took 54 percent or 13, Yuma took three, Fort Morgan took one, Medevac took five and EagleMed took one. In June, SRM had 22 transfers with 24 percent taken by SFD and 36 percent taken by Medevac; in May, there were 21 transfers and SFD took 62 percent; in April there 18 transfers and SFD took 44 percent.
“What we have seen in the last couple months is we have not been able to get transfers out sometimes when we need to get transfers out,” she said. “There are some really critical issues that are occurring in the last couple months. So, I feel like we really need to look at this and make some decisions about how we can change coverage.”
Klein pointed out that SFD isn't equipped to do critical transports and previous administration at SRM had not been willing to send a nurse with SFD, so they could do the transports. However, she said she doesn't see any reason why SRM can't send a nurse -- only in critical situations, for example if the patient needs help breathing -- because “it's the right thing to do.”
“We're willing to step up and do what we need to do to support the fire department and help them with these issues,” she said.
Vogel said he has changed the way SFD handles transports, which has helped, but it's not enough.
“We're doing better than what we were, but we're still not doing good enough,” he said.
Vogel suggested the best solution would be to “have another staffed ambulance out on the street” to cover transfers and 911 calls.
“Looking at some of the numbers, I think putting an additional ambulance on would pay for itself,” he said.
Vogel pointed out that if the hospital decided to handle transfers, which is something Klein said they don't want to do, the county could lose a lot of revenue.
He said that SFD should be able to do 99 percent of the transfers if another ambulance is added.
Klein said SRM will do a contract with the fire department to pay for some of the self-pay transfers, because some people just don't have the means to pay. She said that should help the county offset some of the costs of adding another ambulance.
Commissioner Dave Donaldson asked if the fire station has enough space to accommodate the added crew members. Vogel said the station can't right now and they've got to look at some other options to address that issue.
The commissioners asked the group to come back to them in the near future, with information about the fiscal impact of adding another ambulance, what it would cost the county and what the options are to address the transfer issues.
In other business, the commissioners met with Brent Davis, of Peetz Telephone Cooperative, to follow up on a conversation they had last week regarding right of way access through the Industrial Park to install a fiber optic line.
County Attorney Alan Samber reviewed the agreements in place already on the property.
“The idea that the county can allow Peetz to come down the existing 30-foot utility easement, down to north boundary of the Industrial Park, I don't think squares with the intent of the original agreements that created the parks,” he said.
Samber pointed out that the 30-foot easement is designed for fiber optic, water and sewer lines and until the water and sewer lines are engineered and installed it probably isn't a good idea to put a fiber optic line in the easement right of way.
He also said that starting fiber optic lines at this point, when the final plat hasn't been approved yet, could cause problems as far as future flexibility as far as how that site's developed.
“The other issue is coming down through the Industrial Park with a buried line is going to interfere with future needs to do earth moving out there, because there's a lot of earth moving that's got to be done before the railroad infrastructure can be installed.”
Samber said he doesn't think it's very practical to come down the right of way from the north end of the Industrial Park.
“I think the better option is to go where the current temporary line is and look at getting an extension of your permit from the State Land Board and getting a license or easement from the county to get that line through the west side of the landfill property,” he said.
The commissioners agreed with him.
Prior to the work session, during their business meeting the commissioners acknowledged receipt of the semi-annual financial report of the county treasurer for Jan. 1, 2013 through June.
They also approved an intergovernmental agreement between Logan County, acting by and through the county clerk and recorder, and Haxtun School District RE-2J, concerning the conduct of a coordinated election on Nov. 5.
An agreement between Logan County and Pauley Construction, Inc. for use of the county's right of way across County Road 31 and Desert Drive, for a phone line, was postponed again, due to the date on the paperwork being prior to the current date. The agreement was postponed at last week's meeting and at the time of this week's meeting no new information had been received.
