Monday’s Workshop Clarifies and Distills;
2nd Ambulance Problem Remains

by Jackie (Muddy) Bubis

After three-plus hours of talk and discussion amongst the Commissioners and the Hospital District Board, the people in the eastern portion of Custer County are still relegated to a big maybe on whether they will get an ambulance if they need one.
The meeting began with hospital district chairman Tobin reading several options for EMS for the Wetmore area residents – mostly relying on the county and the commissioners to foot the bill – up to $40K per month.
BOCC Chairman Tom Flower tried unsuccessfully to get the answer to the simple question: who’s responsibility it is to make sure EMS coverage is available for these residents. At one point, the commissioners had to remind Tobin that this issue is no laughing matter.
Two citizens’ input at the end of the meeting really summed the issues up well. One citizen of the hospital district asked if he has a car accident out of the bounds of the hospital district and there is no second crew, will he get the service he is paying taxes for. When the answer was no, he responded that, in that eventuality, the clinic would then be getting a call from his attorney.
The other citizen observation came when the comment was made that, even if you’re in the district, if the first crew is out, the likelihood is that there will not be a second crew to answer your call. The finding from this citizen was that this shows that the ambulance service is incapable of covering even their own district – a job they are being paid to do.
The OEM also commented that the first question that must be established is who is responsible for handling this issue – and Mr. Flower’s question came full circle. “Only one entity can make the decision,” she stated. In the end, three things are on the to-do list:
1) The BOCC will schedule another meeting with the people of Wetmore to find out what the people in the area want to do – because the entire hospital district board didn’t come to the last one.
2) Clinic administrator Lisa Drew is meeting with AMR tomorrow (Tuesday) and will let her board and the BOCC know what came of that meeting.
3) The clinic will come up with a call for service fee for the Wetmore area people, what board member Weisenbach called “Uber for medical.”
How soon any of that will happen is anyone’s guess. But if a call for chest pain comes in tonight in no-man’s land – even if it’s for a taxpayer in the district – and if a second crew is not available – that person is on his own.