BOCC asks for extension from EMS Corp.

WALLACE — Shoshone Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) chairman Mike Fitzgerald and his fellow commissioners understand that there is no simple solution as it comes to the county’s emergency medical services, but they are hoping to figure out a solution in the coming weeks.

On Monday morning, the BOCC made a pair of motions in regard to the scheduled termination of services from the Shoshone County Emergency Medical Services Corporation (EMS Corp.).

The first motion was to send an official letter from the BOCC to the EMS Corp requesting that they extend their scheduled termination date from May 30 to Sept. 30, in hopes of giving the BOCC more time to figure out the direction of the county’s EMS services.

It was early March when the EMS Corp. submitted their plans for termination due in large to issues surrounding funding.

“We’re recognizing that we liked our service, it met our community needs,” Fitzgerald had said previously. “We’ve got good people doing the work, but it’s underfunded to the point that the corporation, if they stayed at this pace, were not going to be a corporation for much longer.”

The second motion the BOCC passed was to begin working on their transition plan for bringing the licensures from the EMS Corp. back to a public entity.

The BOCC is hoping that the EMS Corp. will be amicable to staying open for the extra four months, even if there are additional costs to the county.

“I’m thinking, to get us to the end of the fiscal year, we need to work with the EMS Corp.,” Fitzgerald said. “But we’ll need to have an agreement in place.”

The contract between Shoshone County and the EMS Corp. has the county paying them $5,000 a month. In exchange, the EMS Corp. has maintained the mandatory certifications necessary to operate ambulance services and performed administrative/fiscal duties, such as billings, collections, record keeping, ambulance personnel training, medical supply purchasing and vehicle maintenance.

While they await the response from the EMS Corp., the BOCC will look at all of their options and begin working on their proposed transition plan.

If the county can assume the responsibility of licensures, they could handle some of the EMS Corp.’s responsibilities while passing off some of them to the fire district’s themselves, but they want to have a solid plan in place first.

The other option requires public support and surrounds the creation of a taxing ambulance district.

According to Idaho code, to create a taxing district, the BOCC would need to see a signed petition with a certain number of signatures and then it would need to be discussed publicly before a decision could be made.

During this planning period, Shoshone County — and some Kootenai County — residents should not worry about a drop in ambulance coverage or a decrease in quality of service.

The News-Press will continue to follow any upcoming meetings as a resolution is sought.