Boundary Ambulance Service sets levy town hall meetings

BONNERS FERRY — Boundary Ambulance Service is hosting two town hall meetings next week to inform community members on the services they provide and what they need to continue services.

BAS will host town halls on July 19 at 10 a.m. to noon and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Boundary County Annex, former Armory.

“We have hit the ceiling of the service we can provide,” said Boundary Ambulance Service Chief Jeff Lindsey. “When I first came on in 2015, we had 800 calls for service in a year. Last year we had 1,500.”

The struggle the ambulance service is facing is providing the same level of service for a larger population, which leads to more calls of service.

Lindsey said the county pays the ambulance taxing district approximately $460,000 a year, but to staff one ambulance 24/7 and 365 days a year costs $600,000.

The district has four total ambulances, but mainly operates two ambulances housed at the station. One of the two main ambulances was recently gifted to the Ambulance Services by the county through the use of ARPA funds.

Other costs the ambulance service incurs is cost of medical equipment, drugs, which expire, the cost of personnel and workman’s compensation.

“It is also difficult to hire paramedics, since we compete with other counties,” Lindsey said.

He added that much of the staff, even himself, work at both Boundary and Bonner Ambulance Services.

The ambulance district bills for services rendered, but there is a gap between the expense of the service and how much insurance will pay, he said. Ambulance Services needs to fill that financial gap.

In order to answer calls and have hospital transfers, the BAS tries to have three people working at all times, but sometimes they have multiple calls come in at the same time and have to call in staff, Lindsey said.

Staff is on a rotation of 48 hours followed by 96 hours off with a captain and lieutenant on each shift. At this time another lieutenant is needed, he said.