Bonner County gets paramedics

SANDPOINT – Starting today, full-time paramedics will be based in Sandpoint as well as in Priest River to respond to serious medical emergencies 24 hours a day under the new countywide emergency services plan.

The change should provide more uniform advanced life support service for people living in Bonner County. Each paramedic will drive a “chase vehicle” equipped with medication and equipment for patients in 911 emergencies, according to the Bonner County Emergency Management Department.

Paramedics will be dispatched at the same time an ambulance is called for critical situations to provide a higher level of treatment on-scene. The paramedics are employed by the county.

Since last year and until now, a combination of firefighters, first responders, EMTs and private and county paramedics have been providing emergency medical coverage and transport services.

That arrangement was hastily put together following the abrupt departure of Big Sky Paramedics, a private ambulance firm, last year.

“We’ve been working hard at putting an effective plan in place that provides real EMS solutions rather than stopgap measures,” said Marcia Phillips, Bonner County Commission chairwoman, in a press release Thursday.