By Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times
The Carter County emergency ambulance service hopes to see a reduction in the cost of maintaining their aging fleet of vehicles with the addition of a couple of trucks. That relief should start right away, with the recent delivery of a 2012 Chevrolet that will allow the ambulance service to place one of their other trucks in reserve. That way, executive director Rick Loperfido explained, the service can maintain their current license for seven operating vehicles, but have another vehicle to place back in service if one goes down due to accident or mechanical failure.
The service has recently had trucks down due to both, with C-4 requiring repairs following a collision with a deer, C-8 involved in an accident with another automobile while transporting a patient to KDMC (the patient was transferred to and transported on to the hospital by Boyd County), and C-2 requiring the replacement of an alternator.
Loperfido also reported, during new business, that the ambulance service had been approved for an Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) which will fund $154,000 of the cost for a new, 2023 model ambulance. Loperfido said he had been quoted a price of $169,000 for a 2023 Chevy City Medic from Burgess, the same dealer who sold the ambulance service their recently acquired 2012 model. The ambulance service would be responsible for a 10 percent match, or $15,000 of the total cost.
Loperfido said the grant for the new vehicle would free up funds for repairs to their other trucks, and allow them to place a second vehicle in reserve.
Normally there is an extended wait for the delivery of these vehicle, Loperfido explained, but Burgess had ordered several ambulances for a large hospital system in Ohio that then had to decrease their order when cost increases on the chassis drove the total costs up.
In other action Loperfido reported on other grants he had applied for, for new iPads and lifts, as well as updates on the installation of new radios in the existing trucks and of computer mounts for the mobile data terminals in vehicles. Those will hold laptop computers purchased through a grant from TC Energy.
Loperfido noted the service is still down one full time paramedic, and have been covering that position with a part-time paramedic and creative scheduling.
He said they are also still withholding payment on their new monitors until they receive all of the pulse oximeter probes that were supposed to be delivered with the monitors, including the pediatric monitors.
In the financial report Valerie Nolan noted that income for August was $259,584.91, which was $84,279.91 more than budgeted, however payroll was $4,140.12 over budget – which Nolan attributed in part to overtime related to being down one person in the paramedic role. Total unscheduled overtime for the month was 9.89%, less than one percent more than in the previous month.
Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com