Boyceville ambulance achieves service with 2 EMTs 98 percent of the time
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
BOYCEVILLE — In the month of November, the Boyceville ambulance service achieved 24-7 coverage with two EMTs all but 2 percent of the time.
The 2 percent of the time with one EMT on duty amounted to 12 and 3/4 hours, said Wayne Dow, director of the Boyceville ambulance service, at a meeting of the Boyceville Community Ambulance District Board on December 13.
So far in December, as of the date of the meeting, there has been zero time without two EMTs, he said.
The roster currently has 18, with three Emergency Medical Responders (EMRs), nine basic EMTs and six advanced EMTs or higher (paramedics), Dow said.
Five of the EMTs are inactive, and one will be dropped at the end of the year. One person is currently in EMT class, and two others are in Advanced EMT classes, he said.
As of January 1, the rules will change for EMRs. An EMR only has to pass the class at a technical college. That means there will be four EMRs on the roster, and they do not have to take the national registry exam, Dow said.
One member on the ambulance district board asked the reason why the rules were changed so EMRs do not have to take the national registry exam.
The EMRs are not in charge of patient care. They are there to assist the EMT on duty and to drive the ambulance. Requiring EMRs to take the national exam was holding people back, and it was hurting ambulance services, Dow said.
Two prospective EMTs will be starting classes in January, he said.
The Boyceville ambulance district includes the Village of Boyceville and the Towns of Hay River, New Haven, Sheridan, Sherman, Stanton and Tiffany.
ARPA
The Boyceville ambulance service has finally received the second installment of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, Dow said, noting that he had been told the money would be sent in April but that it had not been received until November.
The initial deadline was to have the money spent by the end of August, but under the circumstances, the deadline was extended, he said.
Some of the money was “pre-spent” on the new power cot, Dow said.
With the rest of money, Dow said he had purchased new tablet computers for the ambulances and two new computers for the ambulance station.
There is now $7,000 left, and Dow said the ambulance service needed more radios and more pagers, so he planned to buy two portable radios and seven additional pagers.
Some of the existing pagers are old enough to be retired, and all of them are programmed just a bit differently so that they do not all work quite the same, he said.
Other news
Dow said he had not received any additional information on the new ambulance that has been ordered, other than that the chassis has been finished, and now the rest of the ambulance must be built.
The chassis, which is made in Mexico, has been paid for, and the box will be built in Canada, he said.
Medic 10 will be paid off next month, Dow noted.
On December 9, the Boyceville ambulance service hosted Breakfast with Santa as part of the Spirit of Christmas celebration, along with the Boyceville Lions Club, and the breakfast was very well attended, he said.
Chili and hot cocoa were served in the evening, and that was also well attended, Dow said.
Next year is the 50th anniversary of the Boyceville ambulance service, and an open house is being planned, he said.
Colfax
The Colfax ambulance service director has resigned, so there will be a change in the service director, Dow said.
The Village of Colfax will be working on replacing the director, and Dow said he has offered to help Colfax in any way he can.
Being an ambulance service director requires quite a bit of “behind the scenes” work, with many federal and state rules and regulations to follow, so that going out on calls “is not the worst of it,” Dow said.
Because of the number of hours that the Colfax director worked, there may be some staffing issues, he said.
When Boyceville was experiencing difficulty scheduling enough EMTs to cover the shifts, Colfax was one of the services that responded to help with Boyceville calls.
The Tribune Press Reporter staff writer, who also is the reporter for the Colfax Messenger, interviewed Don Knutson, the director of the Colfax Rescue Squad, a few days after he tendered his resignation.
Knutson, who has worked more than 100 hours each week to make sure the ambulance shifts were full staffed, will officially resign on January 1, and on January 2, he will begin his new position as clerk-treasurer for the Village of Wheeler.
Knutson also is enrolled at Wartburg Seminary in an on-line/internship program that will allow him to work at his own pace and become an ordained minister in two to four years.
Currently, he is serving as a Synodically Authorized Minister (SAM) for the Colfax Rural Lutheran Parish.
Concerns
Lisa Pederson, representative for the Town of New Haven, asked about the “out the door” time for the Boyceville ambulance service.
Dow said he did not have the actual numbers with him but could certainly find out and estimated that the ambulance leaves the station in five to seven minutes — that is to say, within five to seven minutes after Dunn County dispatch takes the call and then dispatches the ambulance.
Sonya Zebro, representative for the Village of Boyceville, said she had received complaints that there was blood in the ambulances, that there were needles on the floor and that the ambulance supplies had not been restocked.
Needles left on the floor “should never happen, and to my knowledge, it has not,” Dow said.
It is possible that some blood is missed from time to time when the ambulances are cleaned, and regulations do not require a rig check every day, he said.
Sometimes items are missed on re-stock. The EMTs who go out on the calls are responsible for restocking the supplies that they used, and occasionally an item might be missed, Dow said, adding that the EMTs usually do a good job of restocking and replacing what they use.
The Boyceville ambulance service conducts a monthly rig check to make sure nothing on the rig has expired. Desirae Laursen keeps track of the supplies and when the supplies are set to expire and keeps the supply records updated at all times, he said.
The monitors are checked regularly to make sure they work, the rigs are fueled regularly, and batteries are checked regularly to make sure they are charged, Dow said.
Zebro said she had been told one battery was dead and the other was fully charged.
The pulse oximeters have backups, and there are three on each rig, and batteries in the rigs are rotated ever 10 days, Dow said.
Zebro asked about the battery for the power cot.
There was a changeover with the new cot, Dow said.
The Boyceville Community Ambulance District Board meets next on March 13, immediately following the meeting of the Boyceville Community Ambulance District Board scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m.
