Starke County EMS is losing ambulance transfers to another ambulance service which has caused a reduction in revenue for the county.
EMS Director Travis Clary mentioned the issue to the commissioners earlier this month in his report to the board and the Starke County Council discussed it this week.
Council Vice President David Pearman said county officials met with Starke Hospital personnel recently and they said they would work with the county to assist the EMS service. The fact that a Porter Regional ambulance is at Starke Hospital is still bothering some county officials.
Pearman added that another reason for the change is that the EMS service is not equipped with particular breathing equipment.
“One of the things that had been discussed before was that they would help us fund and train us but also help us fund the piece of equipment,” said Pearman. It’s not super expensive but supposedly that’s why they’ve been sending so many. My point is our patient mix could not have changed that much in three months where all of a sudden we’re not qualified to do our own transfers. They’re saying we don’t have the required equipment and training.”
Starke Hospital Interim CEO Jeff Fites told WKVI News, “In a recent meeting with county commission and EMS officials, we discussed ambulance transfers from Starke Hospital. It’s important to note that transfers overall at the hospital have been down for the time period that the county indicated they’ve seen a decrease. Our number one priority at Starke Hospital is our patients, some of whom have a higher acuity than Starke County EMS can accommodate, and some of whom must travel farther than the Starke County EMS service area.
We will continue to work with various ambulance services in addition to Starke County EMS for transfers from Starke Hospital so our patients can receive the timely and medically-necessary transfer services they need. We intend to continue collaborating with Starke County EMS, including offering them additional training if they would like it. We value our relationship with Starke County EMS and feel confident we can work together to offer excellent ambulance transfer care to our communities.”
It is also bothering residents in Starke County who are waiting on transfer service as Starke County EMS is not being called to perform transfers as often. Residents reportedly often wait hours for the alternate service to complete the transfer request.
EMS Director Travis Clary reported to the commissioners on Oct. 2 that the percentage of transfers dropped from 35 or 25 percent to 10 percent last month.
