Area News

Henderson Board Continues County Ambulance Review

By Jeff Tee, River Rat News “Just the facts, Ma’am”

The Henderson County Board held a special meeting to hear public opinion about the future of ambulance service on Tuesday, July 21st at 7pm.

There has been a proposal by Burlington Fire Department to provide full-time 24/7 ambulance service to Henderson County at a cost to the county of $400,000 per year.

I arrived at the courthouse at 7:01pm to find the courtroom was standing room only and a handful of people standing in the hallway. It was extremely difficult to hear so I will summarize the best I can. The meeting had already opened up to public comment by the time I made it to the hallway.

It was noted in public comment that Oquawka Ambulance service had the most volunteers but also has the fewest “runs”.

Biggsville ambulance director Glenda West Ehlen stated she was proposing the county ambulances go to ALS (Advanced Life Saving) services and gave a few examples on how they could do that including having five paramedics in the county that were willing to help. 

She said she would not be asking the board for any extra funding to do this. She went on to say she has 30 local people asking about EMR (Emergency Medical Responder) classes and 20 people interested in EMT (Emergency Medical Technician) classes, all stating they will volunteer with our local services. She ended by saying they have a plan, they are training, and they are improving.

A person from the Henderson County tax assessor’s office stated it would cost property owners $1.82/$1000 assessed value to raise the $400,000 for BFD. 

He stated if the county implemented its own full-time 24/7 paid service with building and paid employees, it would cost approximately 2 million dollars at a cost of $9.10 per $1000 of assessed value.

Oquawka ambulance director Dalton Pullen informed the board Oquawka was 40-50 days from being back in service. He noted that BFD response time to the Bald Bluff area is about 40 minutes. 

He went on to say Oquawka response time to that same area would be about 25 minutes.

Burlington Fire Chief Nathan Toops gave a statement and then addressed a list of questions he had received from the audience. 

In his statement he noted that BFD is the region’s leading emergency response agency and the only organization in the Greater Burlington area capable of providing 24-hour 911 advanced life support ambulance services. He stated that at the request of the Henderson County Board, BFD has evaluated different options for the future of ambulance services for Henderson County. 

He explained the current model is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain and in his professional opinion, it could be summarized as inefficient operations. 

He noted local ambulances are frequently taken out of services due to staffing shortages and BFD picks up the slack in those situations. 

Toops then addressed inadequate funding, He stated the current model does not provide sufficient financial support to sustain the level of ambulance service that Henderson County expects from its volunteer agencies or from BFD under the existing agreement. 

He went on to say that for many years Henderson County has relied upon volunteers to provide emergency services with BFD serving as a dependable safety net whenever volunteer resources are unavailable. 

Although the volunteer model has served the county for decades, it is dependent on the availability of individuals to respond in addition to their personal and professional commitment. As a result, there are occasions when volunteers are simply unable to respond. 

When those situations occur, the responsibility shifts to BFD. He went on to say that today, 3 of the 5 ambulance services in the county are not operating.

While answering audience questions, Toops noted he has six ambulances with three available crews ready to go at all times. In the rare event that all three ambulances were unavailable to respond, he has three more on call crews available to him. 

When asked if BFD would transport to Galesburg, he responded they already transport to Monmouth. 

When pressed, it was noted in an emergency situation an ambulance would not go further than necessary to get to an ER. 

When asked if there would be an ambulance stationed in Henderson County, he responded there are no plans to do that at this time. 

When asked about response times he stated there is no disputing response times would be longer than normal and suggested local fire departments become the first responders. 

He reiterated response times to Bald Bluff area would be 40+ minutes and stated Raritan would have similar response times. When asked what happens if US34 is closed, such as due to flooding, he offered a suggestion of another ambulance service to help out and stated closed roads and response times are “the biggest elephants in the room”.  

When asked about the timeline to make this decision, he stated that was up to the board to vote on but doing nothing was the worst thing you could do.

An audience member stated Henderson County ambulances do a lot things for the community such as staging at high school football games and fireworks shows. 

She asked if BFD ambulances would be willing to do these things if they become the primary ambulance service? Toops responded by saying that’s a tricky question and went on to say that anytime you take an ambulance out of service it comes at a cost. 

He explained in Iowa they only do standby events if the organizer requires that service and pays for that service. He stated he didn’t think Illinois law requires an ambulance to stand by at high school sporting events.

Upon Toops wrapping up his comments, Board Chairman Brad Flatt noted that tonight’s meeting had the largest audience that he had ever seen at a county meeting. He said regardless of what side people are on, he appreciated them being there. 

Flatt asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Biggsville ambulance director Glenda West Ehlen noted Chief Toops had much more than three minutes to get his points across and asked for more time for her and Oquawka Ambulance Director Dalton Pullen to speak and give some more information about future plans for their services. 

Board member John Corzatt mentioned BFD had been invited to speak at the meeting. He then made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Flatt asked for a verbal vote. There were several Ayes. I did not hear any Nays.

It is unclear why the board wasn’t willing to hear more from their current ambulance services or allow the largest audience to ever attend a county meeting to hear more from their current ambulance directors. 

It is also unclear why the directors of their current ambulance services weren’t “invited”.