New EMS director: county ambulance coverage is thin

Ed Debesis, the new Marion County Emergency Medical Services director, introduced himself—and outlined the challenges his department is facing—during the May 3 Hillsboro City Council meeting.

“We’re having some challenges with coverage (for ambulance runs),” Debesis said. “Marion right now is down to two or three people, but during the week it’s pretty much one person, and that’s only half a day.

He described ambulance coverage for Hillsboro as “hit and miss.”

“We’re covered most of the time, but there are days where we aren’t covered,” Debesis said. “Some of the days we’re sharing crew, one from Marion and one from Hillsboro.

“If a call comes from Marion, the Hillsboro ambulance will respond there, and if a call comes here, we’ll respond from Marion,” he added. “There are a couple of days during the month where there is not coverage for either (city).”

Debesis said that situation occurred the previous week.

“I had Hillsboro down, Marion down, and then Peabody called and said they were down,” he said. “I called Tampa and advised them they were first responders for the whole county, for the most part.

“They made a phone call to LifeTeam, LifeTeam called me, and we brought a LifeTeam ambulance in from Newton to cover this whole area.”

Debesis added, “It’s tough right now. The people who are taking calls right now are going to get burned out quick.”

He said finding certified people is the biggest issue.

“My third day on the job, I lost two—one got a full-time job, the other one retired out of Marion,” he said. “I lost a third one who had her appendix out, and she’s still out because of lifting restrictions. So there were three (lost) by my third day on the job full time.”

Debesis, who has been associated with EMS for 23 years and a paramedic for the past 10, also ran the department in Mitchell County for six years.

“Being the only paid medic in the county, I’m trying to keep myself open to respond to anywhere,” he said. “We do have a few (responders) down in Peabody, but they also work other jobs.”

Debesis said Mayor Delores Dalke, who was not at the meeting, had mentioned to him that the city of Hillsboro has had a policy to release city employees to respond to emergency situations.

City Administrator Larry Paine said that policy has not changed.

“Particularly on a fire call, about half of the city employees leave wherever they’re at and go to that,” he said.

However, Paine added that doesn’t know if any city employees other than Ben Steketee are certified for EMT runs. Steketee has been on call for ambulance service on Mondays, he added.

Asked what the answer might be for the current staffing problem, Debesis said he didn’t know.

“There’s no easy fix,” he said. “I know the mayor talked about here, where there’s anything you guys could do to help us. The other thing is, I talked to commissioners about hiring staff. Right now, there’s no money to do that.”

Debesis said the soonest the county could offer a training class for new volunteers would be in the fall.

“I have one instructor, and she just got done with a first-responder class here,” he said. “I’m not going to throw her right back into a six-month class after she got done with a four- or five-month class.”

Debesis said he is planning to take a class that would certify him to be an instructor of EMTs, but the class isn’t available until fall.

He said a few people have contacted him about EMT training, but Debesis said he has been referring them to a class provided by Hutchin­son Community College this summer.

Councilor David Loewen asked Debesis if he has advertised for potential EMT responders on the campus of Tabor College, where Loewen teaches

“We actually have three Tabor students who are already certified and respond with us,” Debesis replied. “They help out in Hillsboro and Marion.”

Paine said, “As far as we’re concerned, we will release (city crew) as long as they’re not up to their necks in fresh concrete. If you’re pouring that, you’ve got to get it finished.”

Debesis thanked the council for the opportunity to report.

“I’m doing the best I can do guys, with limited resources,” he said. “I’m just trying to keep our head above water and the state off our back.”

The only other agenda item during the meeting was to approve an annual ordinance that allows the city to operate on a cash basis rather than “generally accepted accounting principles,” thus avoiding a negative notation on the city’s audit report for the 2015 fiscal year.

The ordinance passed unanimously.

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