Something For Nothing Growth In Post Falls, Less State Money Stretches Post Falls Volunteer Ambulance Service Thin

It’s tough to find 40 people who will work at an emotionally draining emergency services job - and do it for free.

But it’s proved tougher still to drum up thousands of dollars each year to keep Post Falls Ambulance & Rescue rolling and stocked with new equipment.

Although the city has tripled in size since 1985, the nonprofit ambulance service has been getting less and less state money in the past few years.

“Our call lines have exploded,” said general manager Joel Butcher.

Last year, ambulances here answered 1,836 calls for help, about 100 more than in 1995.

And yet, “it’s been a couple years since we’ve gotten any money from the state,” Butcher said. There’s just less of that money to go around, he added.

The county gives about $8,000 each year to Post Falls Ambulance, which has a $280,000 annual budget. When radios, uniforms or other things need replacing, a county donation “usually doesn’t happen,” says Kim Ryan, an emergency medical technician and office worker. “We usually end up purchasing the equipment ourselves.”

The service is mostly bankrolled by fees paid by those who needed ambulances - and only about 70 percent of those helped end up paying all they owe.

The rest is the result of fund-raising efforts, mostly by telephone. People donate cash, or they get tickets to the Culpepper & Merriweather Great Combined Circus. The circus is scheduled this year for late July.

“We have great community support,” Butcher said. Last year, the service bought a new $84,000 ambulance - a four-wheel-drive rig needed for winter weather.

Rough roads. Icy streets. Deep snow. All that, and the stress of charging off to someone’s rescue just about gave ambulance drivers heart attacks themselves.

“By the time you get to a patient, your heart’s going so fast it’s hard to treat them,” Butcher said.

About a tenth of the money used to buy the 4x4 came from donations.

This year, Post Falls Ambulance is trying to salvage the two-wheel-drive truck last year’s purchase replaced.

“It’s got some problems,” Butcher said. “We don’t want to depend on it as a patient transport rig.”

It will be converted into a disaster relief vehicle, a portable medical base to treat up to 30 patients at once. It will also be used as a clinic on wheels for firefighters battling arduous blazes.

Butcher is trying to raise $8,000 to put toward the job.

The circus fund-raiser is four years old. One of the first devices purchased with money made from the drive, a defibrillator - which uses electricity to get an irregular heartbeat on track again - has already saved lives.

Resources are still stretched thin. The service’s four office workers are also EMTs. One of them was slaving over a computer and a desk littered with papers on Sunday, her day off.

Pat Shuey said the long hours aren’t unusual. But the work is so rewarding, it’s worth it, she said.

Volunteers are typically on call 20 hours a week. Ryan works there full-time, then works as a volunteer after hours.

“I just enjoy doing it, just to give back to the community,” she said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo