The Sconi

Lafayette County WI Clerk issued the following on Dec. 15

Emergency Medical Services of Lafayette County

At the December 15, 2020, County Board of Supervisors meeting, Supervisors approved a series of actions to move forward with its plans to establish a county-owned ambulance service. The new ambulance service will replace the current service operated by Rural Medical and is expected to begin operations in Spring of 2021. 

         Since announcing plans to form Emergency Medical Services of Lafayette County, a newly formed ambulance committee has been meeting to discuss how best to proceed given the complexities of developing a rural EMS department and working through details about how and who will be responsible for its operations. 

         At Tuesday's meeting, Supervisors approved a motion to create a department head position for the EMS service. Additionally, a motion was approved to contract with The Paramedic Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit organization that consults with and provides leadership, technical, operations, and administrative support to rural communities. Founders of The Paramedic Foundation have a rich history in assisting rural communities across the nation to create, assess, and improve their ambulance services. 

         Gary Wingrove, President of the Paramedic Foundation, and Paul Anderson, a System Advisor at the Paramedic Foundation, have been in discussions with Kathy Kuepers, CEO of Memorial Hospital of Lafayette County, since late 2020 when plans for the EMS service first got underway. They will work closely with senior leaders of the hospital and strategic county employees throughout the start-up process. "We recognize how critically important it is to make sure we have experts with The Paramedic Foundation's experience working with us on this essential service for our community," said Kuepers. 

         Tim McComish and Dave Ohnstad of Rural Medical have vowed to uphold their obligation to the county with an interim plan once Green County ends its service at the end of the year, and until Emergency Medical Services of Lafayette County is operational. Abby Haas, Economic Development Director for Lafayette County, said, "We have confidence that county residents and the ambulance services that serve those townships that are currently supported by Rural Medical, will not experience a service disruption."

         For their part, Wingrove shared that The Paramedic Foundation is looking forward to working with the county to establish a high-quality EMS service for the county and to working with the local townships to support their ambulance services. "From the start, our goals will include the retention of existing ambulance volunteers and maintaining the township provided services."

    Updates on the project will be available on the Lafayette County website as well as a “Frequently Asked Questions” page of the Memorial Hospital website to ensure the public continues to be informed.  

Original source can be found here