Van Buren Township fire fighters now will be able to drive an ambulance to the hospital while EMTs, with a higher level of medical licensing, work on a patient in the back of the rig.
At the March 16 meeting of the Van Buren Township Board of Trustees, the board voted unanimously to approve the Huron Valley Ambulance and Van Buren Township Service Agreement.
HVA provides ambulance service to an eight-county area, which includes the tri-communities of Van Buren, Belleville and Sumpter. The non-profit ambulance service bills the individual and/or the person’s insurance and so the service costs nothing to the township.
Fire Chief Darwin Loyer told the board that when he became chief, he found that the VBT fire fighters were not allowed to drive the ambulance to relieve the EMTs and so he looked into it. There seemed to be a question of liability.
Township attorneys asked to see the service agreement with HVA and it was found VBT never had a service agreement with HVA.
“I think we’re the only fire department that doesn’t drive the ambulance,” Chief Loyer said.
Fire fighters in the City of Belleville where Loyer had served as fire chief, regularly drive the ambulance to help out the EMTs. Sumpter Township fire fighters also drive the ambulance when needed.
This is at the request of HVA when a patient needs extra care and the fire fighters drive, if they can. Someone has to go pick up the fire fighter/driver from the hospital, but it is deemed worth all the extra effort if a patient’s life can be saved.
Loyer said HVA provides insurance for the fire fighter drivers and also will offer training classes for the ambulances, which he estimated should be minimal since fire fighters are already certified for driving emergency vehicles.
Dale Berry, president and CEO of HVA, was present at both the March 15 work/study session of the board and the March 16 regular meeting to offer information and answer questions.
Berry said HVA was started in 1981 by five Washtenaw County hospitals and in 1985 the hospitals gave the service to the community and now it is operated on a community ambulance service model.
In 1986, HVA started servicing VBT and the City of Belleville.
He said three years ago, HVA asked VBT for a spot at its fire station for starts and stops of shifts. He said two ambulances are based at fire station #2 on Belleville Road and the day shift and the night shift start at the fire hall, instead of having to start at Plymouth, or some other location.
Berry said the crew has to leave the fire hall with the ambulance within 15 minutes of shift start. He said the rig is staged within a quarter mile of I-94 on Belleville or Rawsonville roads, waiting to be dispatched.
He said HVA will bring the ambulance by so VBT fire fighters can sit at the controls and check out all the buttons to let them get used to the equipment.
After someone calls 911, about one-third of the runs are cancelled and in about two-thirds of the calls someone is transported, Berry said. He said a patient who is stable can be transported by HVA to any hospital in Southeastern Michigan.
Berry said in the early days an instrument tracked the speed of the ambulances, but now there is a sophisticated, sealed, on-board computer that records the speed, emergency lights, sirens, G-forces, and other information.
It also scores the drivers on a scale of 0-10, with 10-rated drivers getting awards and those with lower scores getting emails or retraining. Berry said the company standard is an 8.
Berry said the “black box” recreates an incident. If there is a collision, it saves the last minute in 1/10th-second increments.
“We can create everything about the call,” Berry said, adding it proves the emergency lights were on, for example, if someone claims there were no lights, and other details.
Berry said HVA has service agreements with the communities it serves and it won’t leave on a moment’s notice. The agreements also deal with the liability when asking a fire fighter to drive.
“They should not make a decision to drive lightly,” Berry said.
The agreement signed between VBT and HVA runs through 2014.
In other business at the March 16 meeting, the board:
* Postponed until the April 5 meeting a vote on adopting the Articles of Incorporation for a Downriver Sewer Utility Authority. The board has discussed this topic at two recent workshop sessions and was due to discuss it again at a special workshop on March 22. The item was added to the agenda of a special meeting on March 23 and the board voted to accept the articles of incorporation as presented;
* Approved distribution of the Belleville Road District Plan and Market Analysis to neighboring communities, railroads, etc. in accordance with Public Act 33 of 2008. The plan/analysis is expected to be added to the township’s master plan for the north end after going through the steps to be officially adopted. The plan was paid for by the Downtown Development Authority and is intended to assist in recruiting and attracting desired businesses;
* Approved, on a 5-1 vote, a second year’s extension (to April 9, 2011) of the final preliminary plat approval for the Bedford Cove subdivision on the Girard Farm property on West Huron River Drive. Clerk Leon Wright was absent and Trustee Al Ostrowski cast the lone no vote, explaining later: “We need another subdivision in this township like we need a hole in the head and I think the board would have sent a good message by denying this. We need to have builders buy up lots in the current subdivisions and finish them.” Other board members made similar comments during the workshop and the regular meeting, but voted to allow the extension of the approval, anyway, because it is allowed by ordinance;
* Approved purchase of 42 new portable Motorola radios for the fire department from low bidder Herkimer Radio Service for a total not to exceed $46,368.60 out of the E-911 funds, as budgeted. The purchase includes batteries, chargers, speaker mikes and a three-year warranty;
* Approved the updated Western Wayne County Fire Department Mutual Aid Association Inter-Local Agreement, which includes 23 communities, and makes cost recovery easier and more enforceable; and
* Approved the supervisor’s reappointment of Margaret Thompson to the September Days Senior Citizens Endowment Committee with a term to expire Jan. 15, 2012; new appointment of Helen Wylie to the committee with a term to expire Jan. 15, 2012, replacing Lila Warner, who no longer is able to serve; and appointment of Stephanie Soja to the committee with a term to expire Jan. 15, 2011, to fill the unexpired term of Jim Beck who is no longer able to serve for personal reasons.