Both Castle Rock Ambulance Service and Sweetwater Medics will continue to be funded by Sweetwater County until the services can be combined into a countywide ambulance service, which could take place by the end of the year.
The Sweetwater County Board of County Commissioners voted to extend their agreement with Castle Rock Ambulance Service and renew their contract with Sweetwater Medics during Tuesday’s meeting. The commissioners agreed to pay Castle Rock $348,000 annually during the next fiscal year, which will be paid out monthly. They also renewed Sweetwater Medics’ contract, which provides $1.4 million annually, and is also paid out monthly. Both ambulance services will receive the monthly payments until the transition takes place when Castle Rock takes over Sweetwater Medics to consolidate services. At that point, the current agreements will end and the commissioners’ contract with Castle Rock for a countywide service, which has already been agreed upon, will go into effect.
Castle Rock Director Bailie Dockter told the commissioners she believes they will be able to combine the services within the next six months.
“I’m really hopeful that we can,” Dockter said, referring to finishing the transition in six months. “We’re making good progress on that so far.”
Dockter explained Castle Rock originally requested $700,000 annually, which would be the same amount per call subsidy Sweetwater Medics receives. Sweetwater Medics gets $460 per call and gets about 3,000 calls a year, while Castle Rock receives about 1,500 calls a year, according to Dockter. Receiving $348,000 a year means Castle Rock will be getting about $230 per call.
Dockter also pointed out Sweetwater Medics requested and was given more funds from the county last year, which they asked for based on a decrease in funds do to a loss of transports, which were taken over by Castle Rock. Castle Rock does currently take the transports going to Salt Lake City, which is about one transport every day and a half, but Sweetwater Medics still takes transports from Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County to the Sweetwater County Regional Airport, which is about one transport per day, according to Dockter. She said the revenue each ambulance service currently receives from transports is roughly the same.
“I feel it’s fair that you reimburse Green River the same amount per call that you’re giving to Rock Springs,” Dockter said, explaining why Castle Rock initially requested to be reimbursed at the same rate as Sweetwater Medics.
Despite the original request, Dockter said Castle Rock will be able to continue services at the rate of $348,000 a year, although they wouldn’t be able to accept much less, especially due to needing to hire more personnel to help with transports and the transitions.
“We can make it work,” Dockter said.
The commissioners voted 3-2 to approve the agreement giving Castle Rock Ambulance Services $348,000 annually.
Commissioners Roy Lloyd and Lauren Schoenfeld voted against the agreement. Lloyd specified he supports ambulance service for the county, but believes services should be reimbursed equally.
Sweetwater Medics Director Ron Gatti also spoke to the commissioners regarding extending the contract providing Sweetwater Medics $1.4 million annually, which is the same contract that has been in place previously.
Gatti explained he needed the funding amount to stay the same in order to maintain his current staffing levels, especially since some staff members have left and it’s difficult to hire new staff. He said the funds will allow Sweetwater Medics to provide the same quality of service until the transition takes place.
The commissioners again voted 3-2 to accept the contract with Sweetwater Medics, with Commissioners Lloyd and Schoenfeld again voting against it.
Gatti assured the commissioners Sweetwater Medics is working with Castle Rock toward consolidation and will accept the contract’s termination when it comes.
“Doing this gives us an opportunity to ... focus all of our attention on developing the new system,” Gatti said. “Even though it means that as an organization we probably won’t be an organization anymore, that we have a better system at the end of the day, that’s what we really are concerned about.”
Reader Comments(0)