The Fayette County Commissioners recently authorized an emergency medical services (EMS) payment to Fayette County Memorial Hospital (FCMH) that allows the reimbursement for a new ambulance.
The payment was per an amendment agreement dated Sept. 17, 2018 for emergency medical services financial assistance, according to the commissioners. Property tax proceeds were collected from a 1.3-mill levy that passed on May 8 of 2008.
According to commissioner Tony Anderson, as part of this agreement, the annual payment for 12 months of management and operation of county-wide EMS services is $805,363.
Commissioner Dan Dean explained, “Part of the levy monies that we were collecting, the 1.3-mill levy, it goes to provide EMS services for the county and we contract with the hospital to provide those services for us. So we pay the hospital to make them whole, so they don’t lose money on the project — that’s where the bulk of the money goes each year, but there was some built in extra funds that every couple years there should be enough left over to replace a major piece of equipment, so this year we replaced an ambulance. They ordered it last year, and it was delivered this year. So, it was ordered and everything before the pandemic.”
The ambulance that was purchased, according to Whitney Gentry, FCMH business development leader, replaced a 2004 model.
According to Fayette County EMS Director Rod List, the 2004 was the oldest model they had, the next being a 2008. Typically, there are five ambulances in total.
“The main reason for getting these new vehicles in — it kind of reduces in the maintenance costs in keeping these older trucks in service,” said List.
Another reason for trying to keep newer vehicles is to have reliability when going on emergency calls, as well as better security.
“There’s been a lot of advances, especially in safety engineering in the newer trucks that we have,” said List.
The levy, according to Anderson, will be back on the ballot this November — most likely as a renewal.
“It’s nice to know the community supports the levy which provides county-wide EMS,” said Anderson. “I think we’ve improved management through the hospital, I think we’ve got better equipment than what we had, I think that the community at-large is getting better service.”
Anderson further explained that community members who wish to discuss it or make a complaint are welcome to call the commissioners’ office.
“We hope we’ll eventually see improved health through the entire county because of it,” said Anderson.
In other recent business, an agreement was entered into with CCAO Service Corporation Workers’ Compensation Group Retrospective Rating Plan. The agreement is for a rating period which begins Jan. 1 of next year and has the purpose of lowering workers’ compensation rates for the group and resulting in establishment of safer working conditions and environments for each participant.
A resolution was authorized with the purpose of allowing the sale of surplus inventory through GovDeals, Inc. The item to be sold is a 2007 Ford Econoline van. As previously reported, by selling surplus inventory (items that are no longer used or needed) through GovDeals, the county gets to keep a portion of the profit from the sale.
Stay with the Record-Herald weekly for more updates from the Fayette County Commissioners. The Fayette County Commissioners’ Office is located at 133 S. Main St., suite 401 in Washington Court House and their office hours are Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. They can be reached at 740-335-0720. Condensed minutes from the meetings are available on the county website.
Reach Jennifer Woods at 740-313-0355 or on Twitter @JennMWoods.
