A plan for EMS
Two representatives of the South Area Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) board last week asked the Marathon County Public Safety Committee to support a study to find out if a county-wide emergency medical service (EMS) is feasible.
The two board reps, village of Weston president Mark Malone and town of Marathon chairman Keith Langenhahn, argued that a central, single county EMS could provide faster response times to emergencies at a lower cost. They said Waushara County, which has had a county-wide EMS since 1975, was their model.
Matt Bootz, chairman of the Public Safety Committee, pledged to consider the duo’s request at a March meeting.
Well, here come the fireworks. Any consideration of ending local ambulance services will inevitably involve angry confrontations between elected officials, EMTs, fire chiefs and citizens. The process will strain working relations between ambulance crews and pit departments against each other in a political battle royale.
We polled our local chiefs. Three of four say they oppose the study, arguing it will be either a waste of effort, a waste of taxpayer money or both.
So, none of this will be easy sledding. We can see both sides of the study issue. On the one hand, we see how a study might be prudent. It is increasingly difficult to staff rural ambulance crews with volunteers and, given these trends, a study could outline how a new, centralized system could employ full-time EMTs and drivers.
On the other hand, we don’t see a compelling need for a study. Our local volunteer ambulance crews provide excellent service across western Marathon County. Their service is part of a proud, local tradition. We don’t hear a loud public outcry for better ambulance service on this side of the county.
If the county is going to drag us through the agony of an EMS study, we have several requests to make.
Our first request is that any EMS study should, at least, be meaningful. That means ditching a study of a county-wide EMS alone and, instead, studying a county-wide EMS and fire department.
Our reasoning is simple. It is not practical to consolidate all of county ambulance services and leave the fire departments alone. Fire departments rely on EMS revenue to pay the bills. An approved countywide EMS would bankrupt fire departments in six months. The only practical thing to study is one giant combined Marathon County fire and EMS service where revenue would flow between these two services. Any study short of that is a waste of time.
Our second request is the study process be open and transparent. To date, the effort to rally support for a county ambulance service has been secretive. Langenhahn told the Public Safety Committee that he has attended meetings since August 2021 where a county-wide EMS was discussed with officials from 11 different municipalities. None of these gatherings were posted as official meetings, Langenhahn said, and the group circumvented the Wisconsin Open Meeting Law (and the press) by not sending any board quorum to the sessions. We agree the scheme was legal, but it does not inspire trust. The county must be upfront and open from this point forward.
Our third request is that a study be done professionally and without bias. Governments hire consultants all of the time to come up with studies to justify whatever they want to do.
That can’t happen here. Any study that would plot the future of emergency response in Marathon County has to be honest, fair and factual. We insist that west county fire chiefs and EMT coordinators, as well as regular citizens, get input in the process.
Proposals for a county-wide EMS have circulated for decades and, probably, at some point, the option needs to be seriously studied.
All we ask is that the study be done correctly. Malone himself predicted any moves towards countywide EMS would generate “kicking and screaming” from affected EMS departments. Let any study be worthy of this grief.
Editorial by Peter Weinschenk, The Record-Review
