New Cass ambulance service to start Dec. 13
Dec. 2—Cass County's move into ambulance services will begin Dec. 13 with 18 full-time workers, the planned number.
On Wednesday, Cass County's Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Board continued to work out situations, including renting or borrowing equipment, like radios, which are on back order.
Trouble with supply chains is holding up some items, including two of the ambulances. The company that Cass is buying the ambulances from, Penn Care, is providing two loaners until the new ones ordered come in. The vehicles are delayed because of a shortage of computer chips.
Cass County EMS director Mikel Fort said the ambulances Cass ordered would arrive about April. Because of the delay, they will be on 2023 chassis, although the bodies will be the 2022 models, he said.
Those two ambulances will be advanced life support. A third basic life support ambulance has been acquired from Carroll County and is ready to go.
The service is where Fort wants it to be at this time, he told the EMS Board.
The advanced life support ambulances will have an EMT and a trained paramedic for each shift. The basic life support vehicle will have two EMTs, although one of the shifts will have an advanced EMT in one of those positions.
Fort plans to have orientation for the new employees on Dec. 10.
He plans to start hiring part-time after the service gets established, bringing them in at two to three a week.
The EMS Board members also discussed the possibility of doing limited transfer of patients in serious situations from Logansport Memorial Hospital (LMH) to other facilities.
Fort said that Cass County's service would be only in life-threatening situations and come third on a list where helicopter and the hospital's primary service are first.
LMH will also need to have a hospital nurse along to care for the patient, and Cass will only drive within 50 miles to another facility. However, the board members tabled the proposal indefinitely until the ambulance service is established.
"I think we need to take care of 911 calls first," said Board President Mike Deitrich.
The EMS Board members gave Fort permission to pursue a program that would help with administering medications, do tube sizing and help with other judgements for children who are being taken by ambulance.
The Handtevy system uses an app and a wheel device, and would replace the Broselow tape, a color-coded measuring tape that makes dosage recommendations based on the child's height.
The Handtevy system is more accurate and takes into account factors such as age and weight. Medicine dosage issues are a major issue for children, and Cass County has one of the highest child death rates in Indiana, Fort said. A Broselow tape would still be on ambulances as a backup.
Fort said Handtevy would cost $20,000, but they will see what different grants could cover it before purchasing the system.
He said the Cass County Health Department might have a grant that could help pay for the Handtevy system. The cost for the system is based on the number of people using it.
Board Member and County Commissioners President Ryan Browning said that recent federal grants may be the way to fund it if that doesn't work.
Eventually, the Galveston and Logansport fire department first responders will be included in the Handtevy use and training.
The county is creating the service to replace the current service, Phoenix Paramedic Solutions. In October, Phoenix activated a 90-day contingency in the contract to end its business relationship with the county because the business has changed.
The EMS Board has been meeting weekly to get the service working to replace Phoenix. It will continue to meet at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesdays through January, except for Jan. 5.
After that, it will meet quarterly on the second Wednesday of April, July and October for 2022.
Reach James D. Wolf Jr. at james.wolf@pharostribune.com or 574-732-5117
Twitter @JamesDWolfJr
