County to consider ambulance district

Boundary County Commissioners will hold a public meeting to hear citizen concern on whether to create a county wide taxing district for Boundary Volunteer Ambulance.

The meeting will be at 6 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 28, in the extension office.

Boundary Volunteer Ambulance Association has provided Boundary County with ambulance services since 1965.  

Idaho code requires each county an obligation to provide ambulance service.

Because of new state and federal requirements and increased costs, the volunteer ambulance service may not be able to afloat as is.

Boundary Volunteer Ambulance is a 501(c) non-profit organization providing ambulance services.

Under Idaho code each county in the state is obligated to provide ambulance service.

Since this is a state mandated requirement, creating an ambulance taxing district in Boundary County is one of few in the State of Idaho that can be formed by action of a board of county commissioners and not requiring a citizen vote.

Further commissioners aren’t obligated to keep using the services provided so long by Boundary Volunteer Ambulance and can choose a to contract with another service provider.

Boundary Volunteer Ambulance Chief Ken Baker said they operate five older ambulances and two rescue units. The service has 25 volunteer EMTs and eight drivers.  They respond on average to 800 calls per year.

BVA receives $8,000 a year from the county, as well as a small office and space to house two ambulances and one extrication unit.     

The rest of their funding comes solely from billing. Only around one-third of the calls they respond to are billable; they're not reimbursed for all the fire calls they respond to, for responding to unknown injury accidents, to non-transport calls or to all the standbys they do at Badger sporting events or the many events organized by other groups, such as the Kootenai River Rodeo, the county fair, the Penguin Plunge.

If the taxing district is approved and BVA chosen to continue providing county ambulance services, Baker said they'll need an estimated $350,000 per year.

The association plans to build a facility on land of their own.  It would provide around the clock services and provide a training room.  EMT’s are required to maintain certification.  They would also like to hire three full-time paramedics, and purchase new Advanced Life Support equipped ambulances on a rotating cycle, which are required by the state to transport critically ill patients.

 Boundary Volunteer Ambulance provides EMS Support for all Boundary County residents and visitors, including facility-to-facility transfers, county-wide extrication services, low-angle rope rescue, standby EMT’s for large events, CPR AED and First Aid classes and the Vial of Life Program.