THE SPECTATOR: WASHINGTON COUNTY’S HELICOPTER AMBULANCE
Washington County’s recent decisions regarding its air ambulance service have been difficult to understand…and apparently just as hard for county officials to explain.
In just one month’s time, County Commissioners terminated the contract with their current air medical provider…hired a new provider…decided to employ all of the medical personnel who staff the helicopters…and decided to take on all of the expenses of the program. That’s a far cry from the program’s inception when we were told the helicopter ambulance would cost taxpayers little to nothing. Just last year the program lost over $131,000! EMS Director Kevin Deramus justifies the loss by saying that due to staffing shortages of their regular ground EMS crews, air EMS personnel had to assist with running the COVID Subhub and the Joint Information Center for months. Because that work was not tied to aviation hours, the County did not seek reimbursement from REACH, their air ambulance provider. Just last June Deramus called the staffing issue a “pretty significant crisis”. While employers in the private sector continue to struggle finding people to work, apparently Deramus and the County Commissioners think it’s a good time to add an entire new division of personnel to the EMS Department.
As for the potential annual cost of the program that the County is taking on, it’s hard to nail down. I can tell you that the County’s expenses last year were over $1.4 million dollars…and that was without the air EMS crews being County employees. Under the new contract, the County will pay the new provider, Metro Aviation, over $170,000 per month for the “provision, maintenance and operation of the aircraft”, plus a per hour flight time fee of $1200. That’s over $2 million if the helicopter never leaves the ground! The County has not said what staffing the helicopter with EMS personnel is expected to cost. But apparently taxpayers should not be worried. The County says it’s going to take over billing insurance companies and will be reimbursed for expenses, maybe to the point of turning a profit. Now that I will have to see to believe! I do know this for a fact. There’s nothing that government can do better than the private sector…except for one thing. Tax you.
Three weeks ago KWHI invited Deramus and County Judge John Durrenberger to come on air to explain the decision to change providers. They declined, saying they wanted to wait until they hired a new company. Well, now there are more questions for them to answer. But because taking over the entire air ambulance program is uncharted territory for the County, I’m afraid there aren’t any concrete answers…only hypotheticals. And that’s the way it looks to this Spectator.