Keep the ambulance squad in Minonk

The option to have El Paso take over our ambulance service should not be considered. Not only will it be more expensive but, as Minonk councilman Steve Mattox so poignantly put it, "If response times are the major consideration, El Paso should not even be considered." Another important reason is that losing an ambulance service to another community is another step backward for the city. Minonk has an large elderly population who want the security of knowing that an emergency can be met in a minimum amount of time. Not having an adequate ambulance service would deter people from retiring in Minonk.

Among the many options reviewed by the council, option 5 appears to be the best. Option 5 would include three full time EMT Intermediates and one full time EMT Basic at a cost of $75,800. This would require an additional six volunteer EMT Basics. City Administraor Trent Smith said this option is probably the best since it will ensure that an EMT I was on call at all times. This option is affordable due largely to the increase in service fee revenues from the ambulance operations over the past year. Smith estimates that service revenue for next year will be near $87,000, an increase of $47,000 in the last two years. This increase is due not only to an increase in runs but also due to better collections by a collection agency hired by the city last year.

At the last city council meeting it appeared that a decision was going to be made on the ambulance squad. However, Mayor Mark Spencer postponed the decision because he said that the city needed to digest the responses it received from letters sent to various agencies. Apparently, the responses shed some negative light on Minonk's ambulance service. It can only be surmised that slow response times were noted in the replies.

It is time for the city council to recognize the efforts and the committment of our ambulance squad and elect option 5 to fund a permanent oncall ambulance staff in Minonk. The squad has been twisting in the wind now for over a year waiting for the city to make a decision. They deserve an answer now. The city should hire a permanent staff for the ambulance squad and see how it works out. There will never be a perfect answer to any problem. The system can always be adjusted later if the need arises.

As Ambulance Chief Fredericks noted, the response times will improve if Minonk has a permanent oncall staff. It is hard to respond in a timely manner during the day if the volunteers are out of town or at their job.

The other underlying message is that there have been personnel problems within the ambulance squad. This is understandable when you consider that everyone is working under a volunteer status and conditions will be more stressful when you have to pull a group together on a moment's notice. Having a fulltime paid staff should result in a more orderly chain of command and an adherence to rules.

The one thing I noticed when observing the ambulance squad members at the city council meetings is their committment to their work. We should be very grateful that there are people willing to donate their time as ambulance volunteers. It is time the city council showed their appreciation by hiring a full time ambulance staff based in Minonk.