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VCAD explains need to replace ambulances
gfranklin.nevadadailymail@gmail.com
At the Aug. 18 board meeting, Vernon County Ambulance District director Leland Splitter suggested the board consider purchasing two used ambulances to supplement VCAD's aging fleet until the Heritage State Bank loan could be paid off.
In a follow up email, Splitter was asked to go into more detail about why VCAD needs to replace some of their current ambulances.
"Currently, Vernon County Ambulance District has five ambulances that date from 2005 to 2012," Splitter said.
Four of VCAD's five ambulances have near or more than 200,000 miles. Medic 1, a 2005 model Freightliner that is the first ambulance to respond to 911 calls in Nevada and Vernon County, has 204,000 miles on it. Medic 3 and Medic 4, a matched pair of ambulances bought in 2009 to be used for inter-facility transfers, have 212,000 and 209,000 miles on them respectively. Medic 2, a 2009 model International has more than 187,000 miles on it. Medic 5, a 2012 model four-wheel-drive Dodge, has more than 107,000 miles. VCAD has not purchased a new ambulance since 2012. Medic 2 was bought to replace an ambulance damaged in an August 2014 wreck near Harrisonville.
"In the past, we were on a two year rotation. When we purchased a new ambulance we would replace it 10 years down the line," Splitter said.
"Last year we spent $30,000.00 in parts and repairs, on all of the trucks."
Splitter explained that VCAD employees perform what minor and preventative maintenance they are capable of in an effort to reduce repair costs.
During Thursday's meeting, Splitter said days with 10-17 calls are becoming more common and that VCAD ambulances accrue more than 100,000 miles each year just on inter-facility transfers to Joplin, Kansas City, or other locations.
"Last year, we did right around 500 transfers from Nevada Regional Medical Center to another facility. In the past couple of years, VCAD started doing 100 mile radius direct transports to specialty facilities such as cath labs for heart attacks, stroke centers, orthopedic care," Splitter said.
He said VCAD's policy is to always have an ambulance in Vernon County. When the first out ambulance goes farther than 5 miles from the station, policy is to call in a second crew to cover Nevada and any other call that may be received.
An increasing number of inter-facility transfers from Nevada Regional Medical Center to hospitals and facilities in Joplin and Kansas City have placed increased pressure not only on VCAD's crews, but on the ambulances as well.
"This year alone we have already delivered 338 transfers out of NRMC and took 103 direct transports from scene to specialty care centers. I don't see these numbers going down anytime soon." Splitter said.
He explained that several times in the past six months, all five of VCAD's ambulances have been out of the station at the same time either on emergency calls within Vernon County or inter-facility transfers.
"We need dependable trucks to transport and transfer patients up and down the road," Splitter said.
"Just last week we had three trucks down at the same time due to mechanical issues, while trying to keep one ambulance in county and the other one going up and down the highway non stop."
Splitter explained patients lose when VCAD does not have enough ambulances available.
"If we can't keep up with the transfers then the patients will need to either wait for the truck to return and hope they are next in line to be shipped or they might be sent by helicopter costing the patients thousands of dollars more."
He continued, "We can't depend on the surrounding counties to help us, they have their own patients to care for. This also has to be considered when the first out truck goes on calls and instead of doing a direct transport to Joplin, or Kansas City, the crew has to either take them to NRMC and they become part of the transfer request from the hospital or we have to fly them from the scene direct to the receiving facility because we can't transport them direct."
Splitter said VCAD is considering purchasing two used ambulances out of Illinois, one a 2013 model, and the other a 2014 model. He said both have approximately 100,000 miles on them. Total cost for both would be approximately $132,000. When bought new, each of the ambulances cost approximately $163,000. These two units are similar to VCAD's Medic 3 and Medic 4.
According to Splitter, replacing VCAD's Medic 1 with another, similar medium duty ambulance would cost more than $250,000.
As he explained during Thursday's meeting and later by email, Splitter said, "Purchasing these two used trucks will not fix our issues with the trucks but it will get us further down the road time wise not having to replace any other trucks hopefully."
VCAD's Medic 5, a four-wheel-drive Dodge, was bought in 2012 and already has more than 107,000 miles on it. Splitter said one goal was to limit the use of Medic 5 to mainly during inclement weather.
VCAD still has to repay a loan taken out with Heritage State Bank that was used to pay back taxes and penalties to the Internal Revenue Service and to the state of Missouri. This will take approximately three years. Due to contractual obligations, Heritage State Bank must approve any new liabilities that could affect VCAD's ability to repay the initial loan.
During Thursday's meeting, Splitter said answering 10-17 calls a day was becoming more common. He said each ambulance averages 25,000 miles per year.
As of the end of July, VCAD had answered a total of 1,576 calls for service since the start of the year. During July alone, VCAD answered 198 calls for service, 70 of those being emergencies within Vernon County.
During 2016, VCAD called for a second crew more than 200 times due to multiple, simultaneous calls, or calls farther than 5 miles from Nevada. This is in addition to the crews already working. VCAD currently maintains one 24-hour crew each day, and one 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. crew each day. Additional crews are called in as needed.