Ambulance, hospital, County sift challenges

With mounting pressure on both hospital and ambulance services, and at the request both, the Lincoln County Commission has decided to bring in a facilitator to lead discussions.

On July 10-11, Romney Brent will lead a discussion covering hospital transports, cohesiveness among parties, and volunteerism and retention, according to Commissioner Jerry Bennett.

The idea of bringing in an outside facilitator was first breached by Commissioner Mark Peck in a meeting June 18 that included representatives from the Libby Volunteer Ambulance, Cabinet Peaks Medical Center and Troy Volunteer Ambulance.

At the heart of the discussion is disagreement between the hospital and LVA regarding medical transports.

Cabinet Peaks CEO Bruce Whitfield noted the drop in volunteers for the ambulance, and said the hospital wants to work together.

LVA President Jeff Holder said lack of volunteers is not the only problem. With 16 volunteers and four ambulances available to serve the entire area that LVA covers, they stopped doing transports between hospitals that do not involve emergency situations.

LVA also stopped doing lift assist calls for people who need moved around their residence, such as after a fall or someone who has sat down and can’t get back up, but does not need medical aid.

With the number of transports the LVA was doing, they 911 calls could suffer, he said.

In addition, the group acknowledged that in some cases, personality conflicts have aggravated the issue.

Various solutions were discussed, but no hard conclusions reached at the June 18 meeting.

Peck said that while addressing the transport situation, the county needs to keep an eye on 911 needs.