TOWER- The Tower Area Ambulance Service is asking the city of Tower and surrounding townships to make a double subsidy contribution for 2023 to cover the expected costs of purchasing a new ambulance. Initial outreach to ambulance suppliers indicates a new rig will cost about $235,000.
At a special Tower Ambulance Commission meeting on Aug. 24, ambulance commission members from Tower, Kugler, Breitung, Eagles Nest and Vermilion Lake agreed to go back to their respective boards to seek a single double per capita payment in 2023. This agreement would allow the ambulance service to put in their order for a new ambulance by the end of this year. Delivery times on new ambulances have slowed markedly with supply side disruptions. The condition of the service’s ten-year-old rig makes it a priority to get a replacement on line as soon as possible, Tower Ambulance Director Dena Suihkonen said.
“Everyone at the meeting agreed to do this catch-up payment,” Suihkonen said.
Greenwood Township did not send a representative to the meeting.
Ambulance runs so far this year are above the current average, with 292 calls recorded by the end of July. There were 62 calls in June, 60 in July, and 52 as of Aug. 29. Emergency calls from Tower-Soudan have totaled 116; Greenwood, 34; Fortune Bay, 22; Bois Forte, 63; Eagles Nest, 19; and Vermilion Lake, 15. Other calls have included non-emergency medical transfers, which are taken when there are sufficient personnel available to handle emergency calls while one ambulance is out of the area.
“About 10 to 12 percent of our calls have required ALS (Advanced Life Support) level of care this year,” said Suihkonen.
ALS can be called in as soon as an ambulance is dispatched, or after a referral from first responders on the scene, Suihkonen said.
“We don’t wait until the ambulance gets on the scene,” she said, “and when ALS arrives, we have done the legwork.”
The ambulance replacement fund currently sits at $122,342 but is still waiting for its 2022 subsidy payments from all its members. Breitung has paid in half its 2022 payment.
Commission members were still waiting for the final version of the 2022 subsidy agreement. Greenwood has been insisting on an indemnity clause that places all liability on the city of Tower, even for non-ambulance service members at an ambulance call, such as township first responders who are not members of the Tower Ambulance Service.
At this meeting, Eagles Nest representative Larry McCray made a motion to either remove that clause altogether or simplify it to state that Tower is responsible for Tower Ambulance employees, and any township would be responsible for any of their employees. All those in attendance supported the motion. The final contract is written by the city, not the ambulance commission.
Commission member Kevin Norby gave an update on the ad-hoc group formed to discuss options for the future of the ambulance service. The group has held two meetings so far and has been brainstorming ideas to help make the service more financially viable, such as creating a joint powers board, which would give the surrounding townships an ownership stake in the service, or creating a regional taxing district. Eagles Nest, Breitung, Tower, Kugler, Vermilion Lake, and Fortune Bay are participating in this group. Greenwood has been invited, said Norby, but as yet has not chosen to participate.
Norby said the city has not yet formally discussed the five-page-long request for information from the McGrath Consulting Group that was recently hired by Greenwood Township to do a study of area ambulance services and the feasibility of setting up ALS-level service in the area.
“We will give the Greenwood study as much info as we currently have,” Norby told the Timberjay after the meeting. “But a lot of the information they want isn’t easily retrievable…we don’t have the extra time or resources to do it all.”