Bonner EMS system to be revamped

Bonner County’s dependence on the good will and good judgment of volunteers to respond to life-threatening emergencies could end soon if an advisory board the county commission appointed this week springs into action.

The three-person council’s job is to build for Bonner County a reliable emergency medical system that works under one medical director and provides efficient and coordinated care, Commissioner Joe Young said Wednesday.

“We’re hopeful in the next three months it’ll be up and running,” Young said.

Since August, fire departments and two city ambulance operations have provided emergency medical service for Bonner County, mostly on a volunteer basis. But Bonner’s struggle for smooth EMS service goes back years. Private, for-profit companies have battled with fire districts for enough calls to stay in business.

After Big Sky Paramedics, a private company, left Bonner County last August because the service didn’t pay for itself, county commissioners put into action an emergency plan that it had used years earlier when Big Sky had an insurance problem.

The county bought three used ambulances from Kootenai County and parked them at the Sagle, Northside and Westside fire districts. It asked Clark Fork Ambulance and Priest River Ambulance, both all-volunteer, to cover emergencies in their areas while fire departments covered the rest of the county.

Most emergency responders were volunteers except for a few paid professionals at the Sagle Fire District. None was trained in advanced life support, said Sagle Fire Chief Bernard Phillips. The Newport (Wash.) Ambulance Service, which is licensed to operate in Idaho, offered a paramedic for Bonner County’s advanced life support needs.

The response system worked, even though it had no coordinator, Young said. He credits the dedication of the volunteers.

“They’re willing to do the right thing, take care of the patient and worry about getting paid later,” he said. “But it’s time to make things right.”

The move forward started with the resignation of Gary Brookshire, who was hired last summer to solve the county’s EMS dilemma. Young said the commission may change the job Brookshire held into a liaison position between the commission and EMS providers.

Phillips said the advisory board will find out which EMS providers want to participate, then divide the county into response areas.

“I heard an outfit out of Montana is interested in service,” he said.

Property owners already are paying for an EMS service, so taxes won’t change, Young said. The county’s EMS system is surviving on a prayer now, but a medical director and contracts ensuring reliable coverage should give it the stability county residents expect, Phillips said.

“The program is floundering and something needs to be put in place,” he said. “We’re going to take the bull by the horns.”