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Red Lodge / Roberts Ambulance District |
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Fast Facts
· We will be maintaining our current level of care, NOT increasing or enhancing it.
· The fee to maintain ambulance service will be $69.00 per residential dwelling or commercial property per year. That’s only $5.75 a month.
· There will be no fee for vacant, undeveloped or agricultural land.
· More than 50% of our calls thus far in 2010 have been ALS.
· Our EMS division is 91% volunteer, with 46 volunteers and only 4 full-time personnel.
· 55% of our inter-facility transports were at the ALS level last year.
· Of the charges billed from inter-facility transports last year ($225,395), 62% came from ALS transports.
· 75% of area residents surveyed expect advanced or highly advanced levels of care.
· Each of our 4 RLFR paramedics devotes an average of 82 hours per week to providing ALS coverage to the community (40 shift hours and 42 additional on-call hours).
· We currently provide ambulance service to an area of about 600 square miles! |
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Thank you for your support On July 13th, 2010, a mail-in election was held to give Red Lodge area voters the opportunity to vote on whether or not an ambulance district should be formed in order to provide reliable funding that will allow RLFR to continue to provide paramedic-level ambulance service to our response area, as well as ensuring that those living in our response provide fair and equal financial support for the service. The vote passed by a 60% margin, thereby creating the Red Lodge Roberts Ambulance District.
What we will be able to maintain now that it has passed:
· Paid advanced-life-support (paramedic) staff that responds within 3 minutes of a call for service. · Critical Care Paramedic-level / ALS coverage 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. · The ability to staff 4 ambulances. · 4 paid staff that provide & coordinate: - Great training - Great leadership to our volunteers - Motivation for our volunteers - Stability in operations - Mentorship to volunteer staff
Had the ballot not passed, there would have been:
· Loss of adequate personnel - Paid staff currently cover 24 shifts per week. Their loss would require us to recruit, train, and retain 24 new volunteers to fill the gap, which is not likely obtainable in this age of decreased volunteerism. - Loss of 24 hr paramedic-level care - Not enough volunteers to fill call shifts - No way to assure quality care · Reduction in level of care - No advanced level assessment - No advanced pediatric care - No pain medications - No life-saving cardiac medications - No critical care transport ability · Loss of response time - No immediate response by paramedics - Significant increase in response time, up to 15 min - Potential loss in ability to staff a second ambulance · Loss of direction and leadership - Decrease in training for volunteers - Loss of volunteer recruitment, retention and coordination - No oversight for state and federal compliance regulations |
