NEW YEAR, NEW SERVICE EMS – will merge at midnight

Tonight marks the eve of a new year, but for Allen County EMS services, it marks the eve of something much more substantial — a combined service that covers all of Allen County.
Starting at midnight, the City of Iola will take the reins for a countywide emergency medical service under the name of Allen County EMS. They will be responsible for the entire operation, except for the billing, for which the county will retaining responsibility.
Crews with the Iola EMS and Allen County EMS have been working since mid-November to gradually merge the entities. On Dec. 1, Allen County began operating partially out of the Iola Fire Department.
“It’s provided for a lot of learning opportunities, we’re not just coming in cold,” EMS Director Ryan Sell said during a break in his long list of pre-merger chores. “Some things worked, and some things didn’t.”
An employee schedule was lying on the table in the fire department’s common area.
“Every change we have made has been to make things more efficient,” he said.
But not altogether different.
County Counselor Alan Weber, along with Iola Administrator Carl Slaugh and Sell, said coverage would remain the same across the county. There are two type-I ambulances stationed in Iola, one in Humboldt and one in Moran.

SLAUGH said he expects to see challenges throughout the process, which is expected when making a move such as the merger. Nine county employees took on positions with the 19 city employees, bringing the current total to 28. He said they are looking to hire at least a few more responders.
“It’s just like switching to a new job, even though they are doing the same thing,” Slaugh said.
Sell is optimistic. He said while it has been a lot of work to merge the services, he believes it will make a positive difference to the work environment.
“We are on the ascent, and any ascent is energy expired,” he said. “We fully intend to make full use of our resources.”
What those resources will be is yet to be determined. The city will take control of all ambulances (of which the county will replace one every other year), the equipment and buildings. The EMS building on North State Street, however, is still up in the air. Commissioners have requested that the city pay $250 per month in rent, while the city is of the opinion that the original contract stipulated “all buildings” would be under city control.
“It would certainly help operations, our fire station is crowded,” Slaugh said.
But, regardless of the State Street building, the services will be merging at midnight tonight.

“I THINK it’s going to be a pretty seamless transfer,” Weber said. “Frankly, I don’t think there will be anything major from here on out.”
Sell said the city and county crews have always worked together on a variety of calls. The mutual respect and understanding has lent itself to a positive environment thus far, he said.
“We’ve worked together for years,” Sell said. “Now we are learning how one another work. It’s exciting to me, but there is that learning curve. We want people to look at Allen County and say, ‘now that’s a healthcare system.’”
Sell said EMS personnel have created a medical protocol committee — made up of staff from both the county and city — that is reviewing the protocol, development and quality review across the board. He said they have been working side by side with the EMS Medical Director, Dr. Marcus Spears, as well.
As for operating differences, Sell said both teams had to meet in the middle and “manipulate the guidelines” to make sure everyone is on the same page.
Weber said the county would ultimately be reviewing the financial and operational efficiency of the service — which is why they maintained billing responsibility — but the city will be holding themselves accountable as well.
“The city has a responsibility on its own,” he said. “It’s a matter of maintaining the high level of care now on a tighter budget. We just don’t want to go backward.”
Speaking of budget…
Slaugh said the combination of the services will ultimately save the county approximately $300,000 on a yearly basis. The county is providing $750,000 per year to the city for the services.
Weber said the county has already set the mill levy for 2014, but he expects it to be reduced soon after. The elimination of one service should be a noticeable difference for taxpayers in 2015.
“We want to see them (the city) run it as efficiently as possible, they have that discretion,” Weber said.
But, he added, that if the merged services do not work, the county will have the money that was budgeted for their service to fall back on.

FAILURE IS not in the EMS responders’ vocabulary and Sell said his department has seen nothing but cooperation thus far.
The county employees will be trained as firefighters in January, and they will also be trained as new city employees.
As for pay, Slaugh said discussions are still on the table for three county employees who are above the city’s pay scale. Iola City Council recently approved Slaugh to pursue bids for a compensation/benefit study from a private company.
“We’re certainly not on top of the pay run,” Slaugh said. “You’ve always got a bottom line. Hopefully we can keep the personnel happy and competitive in terms of pay.”
That’s the only “competitive” in the works. Crews will train together, stay in the station together and have even merged to the same 911 frequency at the dispatch center. Sell said they are converting the deputy chiefs’ offices to an additional bunk for personnel.
It will be one big — and hopefully happy — family.
“I think our county and community should be excited,” Sell said. “We are doing nothing but enhancing services they have received in the past. I’m looking forward to reaching the summit.”