Changes imminent for ambulance

Although residents of Kimball and the surrounding areas may not notice an immediate change in the ambulance service, significant changes are planned and will continue for several months to come.

Though the ambulance service has been working well within their budget and despite having 21 dedicated, qualified employees that have been praised by locals and county officials alike, Kimball County Ambulance Service will be be transitioning into a service that more closely resembles that of a larger city’s ambulance service.

Earlier this year, Regional West Medical Center (RWMC) proposed a mutually beneficial arrangement regarding the supervision and management of the local ambulance service to the Kimball County Board of Commissioners.

After consideration, the board established the Kimball County Ambulance Task Force to review current ambulance services and establish their best course of action.

At the Dec. 6 board meeting, Randy Meininger, Representative of the Kimball County Ambulance Task Force, presented his updated findings regarding a hybrid model of ambulance service as requested by the board on September 6. Meininger is not only a member of the task force, he is also the Mayor of Scottsbluff, owner of Valley Ambulance Services, Inc., Manager of Regional West Emergency Management Service, and President of the Rural Nebraska Regional Ambulance Network.

Meininger said that they had been charged with the task of creating a hybrid model that, “met the needs of the county to provide ambulance service, and to actually enhance it by being able to provide a little bit more advanced life support and to assist in helping the hospital meet the needs of transporting patients between facilities.”

According to Meininger, KHS believes that the additional ambulance personnel would actually benefit them by providing “additional staff for Kimball Health Services and to be able to provide advanced life support or EMS services,” when needed in the community.

Meininger learned, following a meeting with Commissioner Tim Nolting, that the county board members hoped to decrease costs, limit liability, and work in conjunction with other entities in order to provide the services needed, though, as a board, they are not experts in the area of emergency services.

As representative of the task force, Meininger believes that a partnership between Kimball County, KHS and RWMC is more sustainable and beneficial for the residents.

After several meetings with both representatives and legal council of each entity plus three rough drafts reviewed and edited, the following is a brief outline of the contract dated Dec. 6, 2016 and signed by Ken Hunter, CEO of Kimball Health Services (KHS), John Mentgen, CEO of RWMC and Larry Engstrom, Chairman of the Kimball County Commissioners concerning the Kimball County Ambulance. This contract will take effect April 1, 2017 and will continue for no less than three years.

Kimball County will pay KHS $4,000 per month for a total of $48,000 per year for taking over the ambulance service from the county.

The county will provide 911 emergency and non-emergency dispatching to RWMC at no cost to RWMC.

Kimball County will not maintain control over the services or the employees of the ambulance service as it has in the past. All supervision of ambulance staff and it’s duties will be performed by KHS, KHS employees and RWMC.

Ambulance staff will be employees and paid by KHS although RWMC will supervise the KHS ambulance employees. RWMC will provide and pay the salary of a Medical Director for the ambulance service. RWMC will pay KHS $35.00 per hour for the use of KHS employees for EMS duties. KHS has estimated that it will cost $210,000 to maintain the ambulance staffing levels that RWMC requires to perform EMS duties. Kimball County, KHS and RWMC agreed to each pay one-third of that cost, not to exceed $70,000.

Kimball County will continue to pay for and own both ambulances, leasing them to RWMC for the sum of $1.00 per year. Kimball County will also continue to provide and pay for housing the ambulances and crew at their current location.

RWMC will maintain the ambulance licenses, operate and coordinate ambulance services. They will also keep the ambulances maintained, but only up to $3,000 per year, per ambulance, anything over that amount will be paid for by Kimball County. RWMC will provide general liability insurance of $1 million with a $10 million umbrella policy.