CC exploring ambulance, personnel rentals for EMS

Ambulance and personnel rental agreements with agencies outside of Charles City could be the county’s solution to its immediate crisis of providing emergency medical service on a 24/7 basis.

Discussions are ongoing with neighboring New Kent County for stationing a New Kent ambulance in Charles City. Then there are talks with a private firm that rents qualified personnel for staffing emergency vehicles.

Charles City’s all-volunteer fire and rescue squad lists only about 20 members, thus problems arise when it comes to having personnel available at all hours.

County Administrator Jack Miniclier told Board of Supervisors members during their Monday work session that he has discussed the ambulance matter with New Kent Fire Chief Tommy Hicks. New Kent is open to the suggestion, but so far, no agreement has been reached on rental cost, he said.

Miniclier also reported that he contacted Mechanicsville-based Emergency Training Systems Inc., a private firm that provides EMS personnel. Cost for two certified Advanced Life Support providers would be in the $60-$70 per hour range, he said.

“They would be integrated into the hours that the volunteers can’t make it and during the hours during which we have the highest demand for rescue service,” Miniclier said.

The next step, he said, is to determine those hours and draw up costs for renting both an ambulance and personnel.

“We need to build a price tag on it and put it into next year’s budget,” he told supervisors.

Miniclier plans to meet with county volunteer fire/rescue officials “to evaluate what hours we need,” he said afterward.

He plans to have an updated report to present to supervisors during the board’s Jan. 27 meeting.