Council members hear from paramedics
Cathy May - Contributing Writer

More than one hour of the June 14, Ripley County Council meeting was focused on the county's new paramedic service. An informative power point presentation was given by EMS Director Scott Melling. Following the presentation, several people in the standing room only crowd, told stories of how lives have been saved by the paramedics.

Ray Vogt, a diabetic, told the crowd "the paramedics saved my life. I think they're great." Others in the crowd told of instances where they feel they were saved by the actions of the paramedics.

Nancy Marticke of Margaret Mary Community Hospital said, "We went into this without the complete cooperation of the EMS units." But it seemed obvious by the comments made at the meeting that after nearly a year and a half of paramedic service, the rescue units consider it an asset to the community.

Again, the concern about the rescue units not being able to get volunteers was heard. "Daryl Salatin, director for Rescue 20, said, "I have been trying for 31 years to get more EMT's. It's just not going to happen. Membership is falling." Connie Schutte of Batesville, echoed the concern saying, "If we get one new volunteer a year, we consider ourselves lucky."

Councilman Ed Armbrecht asked Marticke, "Why doesn't Margaret Mary Community Hospital provide paramedic service like two of our surrounding hospitals?" Marticke noted, "Being located in the northern most area of the county is not the best place to be to provide paramedic service. We have committed our finances to improving our emergency services department. We have financially supported the paramedics."

According to the presentation, there is one flaw in the system and that is revenue. The reimbursement system has not worked as hoped. The suggestion would be to charge the EMS units $100 when the paramedics respond and a transport is made and $50 when they are called to the scene but there is no transport. This would generate more than $100,000 a year for the paramedics.

After the presentation, Councilman Armbrecht said, "It all comes down to money. The budget for the paramedic and rescue units is about $510,000 [$178,500 to rescue squads for contract fees and $331,500 for paramedics] a year. So far, we have been able to fund it with riverboat funds, but we were just two votes from not having riverboat money this year. We just have to look at everything at budget time."