Ambulance service in the northern part of Lincoln County has been placed under the direction and administration of Lincoln County Emergency Management Services Coordinator Eric Holt.
County commissioners made a unanimous decision for the change at the July 16 board meeting.
Holt had asked the board to consider the action a few months ago. “We are currently working on streamlining the efficiency for our volunteers and strengthening our volunteerism in the ambulance service. Additionally, we will later have an emergency management services (EMS) coordinator that will focus on the day-to-day needs of the ambulance service. At present, our acting administrator, Cheryln Fackrell, who just retired from the hospital, has been doing the responsibilities and duties of the EMS coordinator.”
Streamlining the volunteers, Holt said, involves the recent updating of the reporting system that goes to the state, which has gone from paper to electronic.
“We now have an electronic tablet on every ambulance that has the forms downloaded and we can fill out the patient care report, get signatures, and, at the hospital, send it right away to the billing office and state office.”
Streamlining training, Holt said, also “is focusing on allowing access for better training. It’s something the EMTs have said we are lacking, so we are going to focus on how to improve that.”
Having the ambulance service under one administrator is going to be of definite benefit to Lincoln County, Holt said, “What we are already offering and doing is going to improve and strengthen the level of care, improve response times, as well as reduce volunteer burnout and the amount of workload they have to deal with.”
Holt said this new reorganization does not involve the Pahranagat Valley Volunteer Fire and Ambulance Service. “They currently run their volunteer EMS under their fire district and are doing a very good job with it. And we are taking some of the things they are doing and implementing them for the northern part of the county.”
