Boyceville ambulance district changes quarterly meeting schedule to match fire district
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
BOYCEVILLE — The Boyceville Community Ambulance District has approve changing the quarterly meeting schedule to match the meeting schedule of the Boyceville fire district.
Boyceville ambulance board representatives agreed at the quarterly meeting April 12 that the goal has been for the two boards to meet on the same quarterly schedule so that representatives only have to set aside one meeting night rather than two meeting nights.
The Boyceville fire district includes the Villages of Boyceville and Wheeler and the Towns of Hay River, New Haven, Stanton, Sherman and Tiffany.
The Boyceville ambulance district includes the Village of Boyceville and the Towns of Hay River, New Haven, Stanton, Sheridan, Sherman and Tiffany
The only difference between the two boards is that Wheeler is not in the ambulance district, and Sheridan is not in the fire district.
The problem is during budget time, said Steve Nielson, representative for the Town of Stanton and vice-chair of the ambulance district who chaired the meeting in the absence of Peter Score, representative for the Town of Sheridan.
The problem with the ambulance district’s quarterly meeting schedule comes during budget time when the budget must be approved in October, Nielsen said.
The ambulance district’s quarterly meeting schedule is January, April, July and October.
The fire district’s meeting schedule is March, June, September, October and December.
The fire district meets in September to approve the preliminary budget for the following year.
The ambulance district would also have to hold a meeting in September to approve a preliminary budget, Nielsen said.
Although the ambulance district has a quarterly meeting schedule in the by-laws, the ambulance board has been meeting monthly since Wayne Dow took over as ambulance chief to help smooth the transition.
Ambulance board members decided last December to go back to a quarterly meeting schedule.
Ambulance board members also were concerned about the chair position if the current chair was voted off his or her respective board in the April election or if the chair decided not to run for re-election.
Board members concluded they could hold a special meeting if necessary to elect a new chair in April rather than waiting until the next quarterly meeting.
The Boyceville Community Ambulance District Board unanimously approved adopting a meeting schedule to match the Boyceville Community Fire District’s quarterly meeting schedule.
Chair and vice-chair
Score, representative for the Town of Sheridan who served as chair of the ambulance district board, decided not to run for re-election April 4 in the Town of Sheridan.
Nielsen, representative for the Town of Stanton who served as vice-chair of the ambulance district board, said he would be willing to serve as chair and accepted the nomination.
None of the other fire board representatives volunteered or offered any nominations for the chair position.
The Boyceville ambulance board unanimously elected Nielsen as chair.
Lynn Smith, representative for the Town of Sherman, said he was willing to serve as vice-chair and accepted the nomination.
The Boyceville ambulance district board unanimously approved Smith as vice-chair.
Chief’s report
Dow reported that so far this year, the Boyceville ambulance service has gone out on 51 runs.
Since March, the Boyceville ambulance service has gone out on 15 runs, with six transports by Boyceville, five refusals, one patient who was treated and transported by Menomonie Fire, one fire stand-by and two relocations to Wheeler for Colfax and Menomonie for stand-by when the Colfax and Menomonie ambulances were already out on a call, he said.
In March, there were two EMTs on duty at the ambulance station for 86.3 percent of the time, and one EMT on duty for 13.7 percent of the time, Dow said.
So far in April, there were two EMTs on duty 92.2 percent of the time, and one EMT on duty 7.8 percent of the time, he said.
One EMT has resigned from the roster, leaving two EMRs (emergency medical responders), nine basic EMTs, two advanced EMTs and four inactive EMTs. Two of the four inactive EMTs will be returning from college next month, Dow said.
The Boyceville ambulance service is waiting on testing for three EMRs, and one EMR can start as soon as that person has been credentialed by the medical director, he said.
Under state law, an EMR and an EMT can transport a patient, with the EMR acting as the driver of the ambulance.
Progress?
Ned Hahn, representative for the Town of Hay River, asked if Dow was “making progress” on not having to work as many hours.
Dow said he has had a “normal” work week and turned in 80 hours for the last two-week pay period.
Evenings and weekends are still a struggle, but the ambulance service is getting a good response for the schedule, he said.
One board member asked about response times.
So far in 2023, the fastest time has been 4 minutes and 33 seconds to get out of the door, with the ambulance service at 7 minutes and 47 seconds about 90 percent of the time, Dow said, noting that response times are similar to previous years.
One ambulance service he knows of is advertising 15 minutes out the door, Dow noted.
Desirae Lauren is really bailing out the service when a driver is needed, Dow said.
Laursen either meets him at the station or Dow said he picks her up on the way to a call.
Dow asked about Laursen being on call from home, since she only lives four miles away.
That would increase coverage quite a bit, he said.
Lisa Pederson, representative for the Town of New Haven, said she used to serve on-call at home, and she lives up by Connorsville.
Ambulance board members did not seem to have a problem with Laursen being on call from home.
Dow has gone on record in the past to say that Laursen’s willingness to go out on ambulance calls when he is on duty alone has increased the ambulance service’s ability to transport patients.
Grants
The second round of Funding Assistance Program (FAP) grants through the Wisconsin Department of Health Services from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds in the amount of $12,195 has arrived, Dow said.
The FAP grant money has been committed to buying a new Stryker cot, and the cot is scheduled to arrive April 28, he said.
There will then be $571 remaining in ARPA funds, which Dow recommended placing in an escrow account so that it could be used with next year’s FAP grant to buy new computers for the ambulance service.
Lexipol
Dow reported that he is in phase 2 of the five phases of approving policies for the ambulance service through the Lexipol policy service.
So far, 45 policies out of 180 policies have been reviewed, and the process should take three more months to complete, he said.
Medicare
Dow reported that he working on the Medicare cost analysis that is due at the end of May and that he is 77 percent of the way to being finished with three more steps remaining.
All ambulance services have to do a Medicare cost analysis, and the federal government will use the information to justify that ambulance services are being underpaid so the payments can be increased, he said.
Prom crash
The Boyceville ambulance service, the Boyceville fire department, the Boyceville police department, Mayo Clinic, the Dunn County Sheriff’s Department, the medical examiner and the Wisconsin State Patrol will participate in a mock car crash April 25 at 1 p.m. behind the school, Dow said.
Donation
The Tainter Trail Tamers have made a donation of $2,000 to fire departments and ambulance services to use for outdoor rescue equipment, Dow said.
The ambulance chief said he would like to use the money on a new Sked Basic Rescue System, which is a plastic toboggan that folds and has straps to hold the patient on the device.
A Sked can be used in a confined space rescue as well as in rough terrain or somewhere with an accumulation of snow, Dow said.
The ambulance service has a Sked, but it is decades old, and the new Skeds have better straps. The current Sked, with replaced buckles and straps, could be placed with the second ambulance, he said.
The new straps have buckles like seat belts whereas the old straps have buckles that thread like an old backpack, Dow explained.
A new Sked costs $700, and new buckles and straps for the Sked are $230. The remainder of the Tainter Trail Tamer money could be used for vacuum splints, he said.
The existing splints are rigid whereas the vacuum splints conform to whatever position the broken limb is in so that it can be stabilized, Dow said.
The Boyceville Community Ambulance District Board unanimously approved accepting the donation from the Tainter Trail Tamers.
Next meeting
The Boyceville ambulance board meets next on June 14 at the Boyceville fire station at 7 p.m. or immediately following the Boyceville fire board meeting.
VFW
Sonya Zebro, representative for the Village of Boyceville, said she had received an e-mail message from the Wheeler VFW saying that the organization planned to honor Laursen for her community service after the June meeting of the Boyceville ambulance service.