Commissioners once again table action on ambulance task force

For the second straight time, the Cheyenne County Commissioners tabled a proposal for the formation of an ambulance task force at Monday's regular meeting.

Currently, the county's ambulance service is provided by Emergency Response Care (ERC), which is based in Sidney and under the operation of Regional West. The service is under a three-year rolling contract with the City of Sidney and Cheyenne County.

The contract is up for renewal in June of 2017.

District 3 Commissioner Philip Sanders said that his vision of a task force was to take ERC, Sidney Regional Medical Center, law enforcement, and emergency management and have "round table" discussions of how they can work as a team to serve the county better.

"We lost our ambulance in Potter and it was not a good feeling to have, and I don't want to see that happen again," Sanders said.

"Based on the last meeting, I didn't hear anything from anybody that was really upset or complaining about the current contract service that we have," Board chairman Darrell Johnson said. "All I've heard was praises."

Jason Petik, CEO of SRMC, said that as part of the original group looking to form the task force, Commissioner Johnson was correct that there was "never any question" about the service provided.

"I think the main task that we were looking at was to make sure that, as a Cheyenne County tax payer, are we getting the biggest bang for our buck?" Petik said. "We subsidize the ambulance service to the tune of about $250,000 a year, and part of that group would just be to evaluate. Is that normal?"

Petik said ERC has done a great done since stepping into the position back in the 1990s when there was a lack of service.

"And maybe it's just time to evaluate what those dollars are actually buying the taxpayers of Cheyenne County," he said.

Randy Meininger, manager of ground ambulance services with ERC, said that they "submit an annual report of cost analysis that currently breaks down to about nine cents per day per capita in Cheyenne County."

"Were not opposed at all at looking at ways to improve, there's always something that we can improve on, we acknowledge that, (but) Cheyenne County has never asked for that assessment," said Meininger.

Meininger continued by saying that asking the state for a full EMS assessment would cover the entire county, allowing them to come in "with a new set of eyes to look at what's right, what's wrong, and where can we improve."

"There hasn't been a community to ask the state to do that since 2013," he said.

Sanders said that in Dalton they have had a hard time finding emergency medical technicians (EMTs).

"It's understandable that it's a hard job and it doesn't pay anything," he said. "It's just a matter if you have the want and the drive to want to help your community."

There are three Dalton residents that are currently taking the online EMT course offered by Western Nebraska Community College, Sanders said.

"We need to try and support these people that are willing to step up, and help them get the training they need to help our communities," he said. "And continue to have the ambulance service in Sidney that's willing to work with these small communities."

Cheyenne County Sheriff John Jensen said he did not think there was a better time to look at the services provided to make sure it is working with all of them.

"Not as a big brother, but as a team," Jensen said.

The commissioners unanimously voted to table the item until their next regular meeting, scheduled for May 2.

"We can continue on," Johnson said. "If we have a problem, we need to address those problems, each one of them. If we need to be the ones to do this, so be it.

"I guess I'm hoping that, over the years that I have watched the ambulance service and the fire departments, they've always gotten along good, they've worked well together. And if there's an issue that comes up, they seem to address it and take care of it."