STANARDSVILLE — A large segment of the budget conversation during the April 28 Greene County Board of Supervisors’ meeting was about a path forward for the rescue squad after the University of Virginia Health System notified the county of its desire to sever the contract to provide emergency medical service for the county earlier that month. The contract is scheduled to end on Oct. 14. This decision came in the middle of the COVID-19 global pandemic.
“The existing contract cost is about $1.1 million annually, or about $92,000 a month,” said Mark Taylor, Greene’s county administrator. “The future of Greene County Volunteer Rescue is uncertain. Per the state code the county may establish an EMS agency or may contract with any EMS agency to provide EMS service. We issued an RFP (request for proposals) earlier this year and got no responses. We could hypothetically reissue an RFP for contract service. We could form a regional organization or partner with a neighbor to provide EMS or we could do nothing. The provision of emergency medical services to the community is not mandated in the state code.”
Taylor said he does not recommend the county suspend or discontinue providing EMS to the residents.
“We simply wanted to provide the whole spectrum of possibility and there’s certainly been no suggestion from any supervisor, or anyone, that the county should not provide it,” Taylor said May 4. “In today’s modern world there are certain norms and expectations. It was not a suggestion; it was merely an observation of the state of the law.”
Taylor said often people expect that if there’s a mandate there are federal or state dollars to help localities pay for those services — and that’s often not the case.
“It’s still very much on the localities to pay those costs,” Taylor said. “EMS is something that we may do, but it’s obvious from the comments over the last year, I would say, it’s significant to our residents and it’s an expectancy that folks move to communities, even little Greene County, in modern times with expectancy that this service will be available and respond when they call.”
Greene County Emergency Services Manager Melissa Meador told supervisors on April 28 that the county is not building this agency from scratch.
“There’s a lot of infrastructure in place. There’s been a contingency plan in place for this for quite some time,” Meador said. “The numbers that I ran basically put us at about $1.57 million, and that includes the same level of service that we have now with the UVa contracts. So, that does leave us short of $466,000 that we would have to — for lack of a better term — find somewhere to make this department happen.”
Meador noted the agency already has an EMS license agreement that would stay in place, as well as an agreement between the Greene County EMS (paid staff) and the Greene County Rescue Squad (volunteers) as far as equipment, the building and supplies.
“I think we’re in a good position for us to make this move,” Meador said. “There are so many advantages to making this move. I wish I had an easy answer to where this remaining funding would come from, but I just wanted to make sure everyone understood that we’re not at zero. We would not be starting from scratch.”
Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Martin said he was encouraged to hear that Meador believed the county could continue the continuity of service once Oct. 14 arrives.
UVa’s Medic 5 was providing two shifts 24 hours a day, seven days a week after the Greene County Volunteer Rescue Squad told the county last fall they could not continue to cover any shifts.
“I think the hard reality is that we need to plan to cover all the shifts around the clock,” Taylor said.
He said he has spoken with some on the volunteer board of directors about what it might take to rebuild the volunteer program, but that’s not something that will happen right away.
Additionally, Taylor noted that throughout the past year he’s been county administrator there have been significant questions about whether two ambulances per shift was enough to cover the county.
“There are broad questions about how much service is enough,” he said. “And along with that goes the question, naturally, about how much [funding] is available to provide the service.”
Martin said on May 4 that he has every confidence the county will find a way forward.
“I suspect it’s going to be more of an evolution rather than a revolution to get to where we need to be, but I’m confident we’ll sort through the issues,” he said. “I said last Tuesday that this is an opportunity, in my view, to have something more homegrown and something more directly under our control.”
The county initiated a fire and rescue services study from the state in late January and are awaiting the results.
“First of all, I want to thank the community for donated assistance already received with the face masks and cloth face masks that were donated to us with the COVID issue,” Taylor said. “That sort of pulling together, I think, is fundamental to going forward. We are doing our best to focus on the continuity of service and the continuity of care and I think the best support that the community can give at this point is listening to the board’s priorities for the budget and for the path forward.”
Martin agreed.
“There will be some kinks to work out, I’m sure,” Martin said. “But over time, we’ll get there. So my request would be for some patience on the part of the community. This was unexpected in a tough budget year with an ongoing emergency.”
Rebuilding the volunteer rescue program can save the county millions of dollars in the future. Those interested in becoming an emergency medical technician, can get in touch with the squad at greeneresq.org/contact.
Taylor said he hopes to have an update at the next Board of Supervisors meeting, set for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com
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