Letter to the editor

In a recent KNEB news item I was quoted as saying, “the commissioners felt it was time to hand the ambulance service over to qualified people in the medical field.”

That quote is accurate but unfortunately it seems to have been misinterpreted. The ‘qualified people in the medical field’ was in reference to the establishment of an EMS Board of Directors as recommended by the EMS assessment completed in November of 2016. The assessment was conducted by The Paramedic Foundation and funded by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. In addition to other benefits provided by the partnership, the arrangement will also provide an EMS Board of Directors consisting of ‘qualified people in the medical field’.

The EMS Assessment also devotes several paragraphs to comment on the excellence of training, patient care, response time and dedication of volunteers to the service, and to the people in the community. Those who conducted the assessment told me that for the relatively small size of our community, Kimball County has one of the best emergency response teams in the area. Neither myself, nor any other elected or appointed official disagrees with that statement. We all recognize the personal sacrifice that type of dedication requires and we are appreciative of all of the EMS volunteers and staff.

The transition to the joint partnership provided an opportunity for every member of our existing EMS crew to remain with the ambulance service. A total of sixteen current emergency responders chose to remain with the service and will continue to be the local, familiar faces that everyone will recognize when emergency calls are made. There will also be some new faces and I trust that they will be made welcome to the community and to the emergency response team that they will be joining.

As an elected official, I am responsible and accountable to the people of Kimball County. As such, I welcome your questions, opinions and comments and I apologize that my comments to KNEB were unclear and consequently misunderstood.

You can contact me via e-mail at: [email protected] or by phone at 308 360-3572.

M. Timothy Nolting

Kimball County Commissioner