Boyceville ambulance district forms committee to explore merger of Boyceville and Colfax
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
BOYCEVILLE — The Boyceville Community Ambulance District Board of Directors has approved forming a committee to explore the possibility of a merger between the Boyceville ambulance service and the Colfax ambulance service.
Wayne Dow, director of the Boyceville ambulance service, has been discussing the possibility of combining the two services with Don Knutson, director of the Colfax Rescue Squad, said Peter Score, representative for the Town of Sheridan and chair of the Boyceville ambulance district board, at the March 16 meeting.
Score said he has attended two meetings with Dow, Knutson and Lynn Niggemann, village administrator-clerk-treasurer in Colfax.
During the two meetings, a possible budget was discussed along with how the combined service might operate, he said.
Once Score, Dow, Knutson and Niggemann have “fine tuned” the numbers and some of the other details, then a committee will be needed from each board to continue the exploration, Score said.
The Boyceville ambulance service is owned by the member municipalities that are part of the ambulance district, which includes the Village of Boyceville, and the Towns of Hay River, New Haven, Sheridan, Sherman, Stanton and Tiffany.
The Colfax ambulance service is owned by the Village of Colfax, so it falls under the authority of the Colfax Village Board.
Surrounding municipalities contract with the Colfax Rescue Squad for ambulance service and include the Villages of Wheeler and Elk Mound and the Towns of Colfax, Elk Mound, Grant, Otter Creek, Sand Creek and Tainter.
Score said he anticipates that the idea of merging the two services will reach a point where it requires more representatives to discuss the possibility than just him, Dow, Knutson and Niggemann.
A committee from the Boyceville ambulance district would explore further whether merging the services is something that should be pursued or whether it is something the Boyceville ambulance district is not interested in doing, he said.
“The effort is being taken deliberately and carefully … we’re not rushing into it,” Score said.
Bob Anderson, chair of the Stanton Town Board, said he wanted Stanton to be involved with what Score called the “opportunity committee.”
Steve Nielsen, a supervisor on the Stanton Town Board, said he was willing to volunteer for the committee.
Sonya Zebro, a trustee on the Boyceville Village Board, said she would be willing to volunteer for the committee as well.
Roster policy
The Boyceville ambulance district board also approved a roster policy at the March 16 meeting.
The policy requires Emergency Medical Technicians to work 24 hours each month and to attend at least half of the business meetings per year but also allows exceptions at the discretion of the EMS chief.
Several students who are away at college, for example, cannot fulfill the 24 hour per month work requirement or attend the business meetings during the school year.
The EMTs can work the 24 hours in any way they choose — one 24-hour shift; two 12-hour shifts; three eight-hour shifts; or any other combination of hours that add up to 24 per month, Dow said.
If they do not want to work 24 hours per month, then maybe they do not really want to be EMTs, commented Ned Hahn, representative for the Town of Hay River.
Working 24 hours each month also helps the EMTs to keep up their skills, too, Dow said.
The Boyceville Community Ambulance District Board unanimously approved the roster policy as presented.
Complaint policy
The Boyceville ambulance board approved a complaint and work behavior policy as well.
Paul Heifner, representative for the Town of Sherman, asked about the section referring to “under the influence” and how it related to medications.
The labels for narcotic pain medications state that people should not operate equipment, so if someone was taking the pain medication, that could be considered to be under the influence, Dow said.
One section of the policy also referred to “sleeping on the job.”
Board members agreed it should be taken out of the policy because the EMTs stay overnight at the ambulance station, and if they are staying overnight, they have to sleep while they are there.
Board members also agreed that the section stating homework could not be completed while on the job should be removed because if EMTs are working a longer shift and there are no ambulance runs, they should be able to do homework if necessary.
The Boyceville Ambulance District Board unanimously approved the complaint and work behavior policy that also includes a process for informal problem resolution, rules of conduct, a discipline process and a formal complaint resolutions procedure.
Chief’s report
Dow reported that the Boyceville ambulance service has gone out on 65 calls so far this year, with 33 calls since the last meeting in February.
Of those 33 calls, 22 patients were transported by Boyceville, 5 patients were transported by Menomonie, one patient was transported by Glenwood City, one call was cancelled while in route, three calls resulted in no transport and one call was a fire stand-by.
In February, the ambulance station was staffed by two people 61.7 percent of the time, was staffed by one person 37.8 percent of the time, and there were three hours when Boyceville was out of service, Dow said.
As of March 16, the ambulance station was staffed by two people 58.3 percent of the time and was staffed by one person 43.6 percent of the time, he said.
The current roster contains 13 EMTs, and three or four of them are inactive because of school commitments, Dow said.
EMT meeting
Score, Zebro and Marv Prestrud, representative for the Town of New Haven, attended one of the EMT training sessions/meetings to introduce themselves to the EMTs as members of the board of directors.
Attending the meeting allowed the board members to get to know the EMTs a little bit better, and it allowed board members to observe how Dow conducts training sessions and meetings, Zebro said.
“It was a positive experience,” she said, noting she had received positive feedback afterwards from the EMTs, who said it was the first time they could remember ambulance district board members attending any of their meetings or training sessions.
“It was a good step,” Prestrud said.
The board is always welcome to attend. Coming to training sessions and meetings helps board members to understand what the EMTs do, Dow said.
Members of the ambulance district board can take turns going to the training sessions/meetings, and it does not have to be the same two or three all the time, Score said.
Ambulance district board members agreed if they all showed up for the training sessions/meetings, it might be a little overwhelming for the EMTs.
Closed session
During a closed session of the Boyceville Community Ambulance District Board, the board unanimously approved sending an “olive branch” letter to several former EMTs, at Chief Dow’s discretion, Score said.
The ambulance district board is interested in reaching out to former EMTs who were active as of last April but who have not been heard from since last April, he said.