Colfax approves agreement to keep Colfax Rescue Squad medical director
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — The Colfax Village Board has agreed to pay up to $470 this year to keep the medical director for the Colfax Rescue Squad after HSHS Sacred Heart closes.
The village board considered the proposal from Chrystal Smith, interim director of the Colfax Rescue Squad, in what ultimately was a three-minute meeting on February 12.
The issue is that the current medical director for the Colfax Rescue Squad will lose his liability insurance when Sacred Heart closes, and the proposal asks that all, if not most, of the services that have the same medical director chip in to pay the liability insurance.
Smith sent the following communication to the Colfax Village Board:
“With the closure of HSHS Sacred Heart, we are in danger of losing our medical director, Dr. Ethan Young. While we can find another medical director, Dr. Young has worked in EMS and has a passion for the field, and because of this, knows more about what we do and need, and what we encounter, better than many ER doctors.
“Our agreement with HSHS ends on the day that their doors close, and on that day, we lose [Dr. Young] as medical director.
“Chris Wright, our training coordinator with Sacred Heart, reached out to each of the services that Dr. Young oversees with a proposal. Dr. Young’s main concern is his liability insurance which the hospital pays for. Once he is no longer employed by the hospital, [the liability insurance premium] will no longer be paid.
“Chris proposed that the $4,700 a year that it would cost for [Dr. Young] to remain insured be paid for by the services. He said that if all 15 services said yes, this would mean each service would pay $280 a year to keep Dr. Young on as our medical director.
“As of right now, Chris has 10 services that have agreed and has had no services say no. Even if only the 10 said yes, that would be $470, which is a fair, feasible amount to remain under the medical direction of Dr. Young.”
“This is a no-brainer,” said Jeff Prince, village president.
If the Colfax Rescue Squad does not join in on paying for the liability insurance for Dr. Young, then the entire medical director agreement would have to be to re-worked through the Mayo Clinic Health System, he said.
If all 15 of the services join in on the agreement, the cost would only be $280 for the year, Prince noted.
The Colfax Village Board unanimously approved a motion to pay not more than $470 for this year toward the liability insurance to keep Dr. Young as the medical director for the Colfax Rescue Squad.
Voting in favor, in addition to Prince, were village trustees Clint Best, Margaret Burcham, Anne Jenson and Gary Stene.
Village trustees Jen Rud and Carey Davis were absent from the meeting.
The only other business that came before the village board was the consent agenda, which included meeting minutes from January 22, 2024; review of the statement of bills from January 22 to February 11, 2024; and review of the solid waste and recycling bills from January 22 to February 11, 2024.
There were no training requests to consider, and no facility rentals or bartender operator licenses.
