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Commissioners get volunteer fire fighters’ input on ambulance service
As Bourbon County Commissioners continue to work on a solution to bring an ambulance service after Mercy Hospital closes its doors Dec. 31, on Tuesday, they heard from officials from the Bourbon County Fire District 3.
District 3 Chief Delwin Mumbower, Hiattville Fire Chief Lou Howard and volunteer firefighter Shawn Wyatt attended the meeting to share their concerns on the future of ambulance services in Bourbon County.
“We’re not an ambulance service by no means, but I think we provide a valuable service out there in first response,” Mumbower said. “You know, we spend a lot of time with a patient out there waiting on an ambulance. We have a lot invested in it.”
He said recently, the district spent $2,000 to make sure volunteers are “protected with immunizations.”
“I think my concern, personally – and a lot of those in our department – is when it comes to private services, you don’t have a say,” Mumbower said. “And some of them don’t necessarily involve a first responder.”
He said he understands the commissioners’ job and the need to explore all options. During a special meeting on Oct. 3, commissioners voted to advertise for bids for an ambulance service, but at the same time, agreed to explore the idea of a county-owned service.
“I would also like to see that somehow we are involved – that we stay involved with medical response out in the county,” Mumbower said.
Mumbower said currently the district has five EMTs, two medical responders and six are currently training to become EMTs.
“We are very fortunate to have those people to volunteer to do that,” Mumbower said. “It means a lot.”
Commission Chairman Lynne Oharah said the county and city are working together to create a task force that includes a representation of “every entity that touches emergency services.”
Oharah also said at this time, the commissioners don’t have information they need in order to make a decision.
“If we lose the Mercy aspect of it at the end of the year, we lose our ability to run the calls,” Mumbower said. “Because we operate under the Mercy program. At some point, we’re going to need direction. If we’re not operating with medical direction from Mercy, we’ve got to go elsewhere because we have to have protocol signed by a physician.”
“We’re working on the issues as hard as we can because we are on a short time frame,” Oharah said.
He said anyone who looks at the call sheets from dispatch can see any time an ambulance is called, volunteer first responders are also involved. Mumbower said he keeps a record how many times the district’s volunteers arrive on a scene prior to an ambulance.
“We log those incidents separately,” Mumbower said, adding that he does not have that data on hand.
Commissioner Jeff Fischer said he knows contracting with an outside vendor means “you don’t have that personal touch anymore.”
“There’s a lot of unknowns, but hopefully we can navigate through this and have a local provided ambulance service that all the stakeholders are happy with,” Fischer said.
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