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Emergency Medical Service to Tap Off-Duty Paramedics for Swing Shift

Posted on: Monday, 6 March 2006, 15:01 CST

By Sharon Montague, The Salina Journal, Kan.

Mar. 4--The Salina Fire Department and Emergency Medical Service has added a swing shift covered by off-duty paramedics to handle an increase in calls experienced since a private ambulance company ceased operations at the beginning of the year.

Fire Chief Darrell Eastin said a decision will be made later about whether to continue with the off-duty paramedics or to hire additional staff to cover the extra shift.

The department has planned for an increase of about 100 calls month since the loss of T.A.C.-EMS, owned by Thomas Shuler.

Shuler could not be reached for comment.

Eastin said the department has scheduled an additional paramedic for six hours during the middle of the day every weekday, which is the peak activity time for nonemergency transfers. That additional paramedic receives overtime pay.

The extra shift costs the department about $720 a week.

Some of that cost might be recovered through fees charged to patients.

Marvin VanBlaricon, the department's division chief for emergency medical services, said patients transferred on a nonemergency basis are billed $280, plus $7.60 a mile. The fees for emergency transfers are higher, and depend on the level of services provided.

Eastin said he plans to monitor the swing shift staffed by off-duty paramedics for at least a few months, then make a recommendation to the city manager about whether to continue with that or hire additional staff.

Kara Fiske, co-owner with Ann McCall of Windsor Estates and McCall Manor nursing homes, said Salina EMS has done nicely in filling the void created by the loss of T.A.C.-EMS.

Fiske, who also serves as administrator of Windsor Estates, said an ambulance is called about 10 times a month to take a patient from the nursing home to the hospital, or from the hospital back to the nursing home.

In the past, she primarily used T.A.C.-EMS.

"The problem T.A.C. had was they didn't have enough buses, and they were always busy," Fiske said. "There were a lot of times they didn't have one available."

However, Fiske said, Salina EMS fees are higher than those that were charged by T.A.C.-EMS.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Salina Journal, Kan.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Salina Journal

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