Photo by Park County Bulletin

Just moments before a public meeting at Fire Station 2 to discuss the status and future of ambulance service in the Platte Canyon district, Platte Canyon Rescue President Kathy Reasoner and Platte Canyon Fire Department Chief Jeff Davis met privately and reached an understanding.

Both Fire and Rescue applied for licenses to operate an ambulance service in the district after it was discovered earlier this month that Platte Canyon Rescue (North Park County Ambulance) was operating under a license that had expired in June. The two organizations would be competing for the right to operate the service in hearings before the Board of County Commissioners on October 2.

Tuesday night, however, Reasoner, reportedly backed by a majority of the PCRS Board of Directors, offered full support for Chief Davis in his department's move to establish ambulance service. In a joint announcement, Davis and Reasoner said that the ultimate goal for both organizations is the safety and welfare of their community. With some emotion evident, Reasoner announced that Rescue would withdraw its application for a county license to operate. Pending approval of the membership, PCRS will liquidate its assets, dissolving the financially strapped corporation that has provided emergency services to the community for thirty-seven years.

Reasoner explained that a period of internal turmoil helped aggravate challenges that would be difficult, if not impossible, for the Rescue Service to overcome sufficiently for quick reactivation. In addition to the county operating license expiration in June, Rescue also lost its FCC license to operate communications in August and contracts were cancelled in addition to or as a result of the license expirations. According to Reasoner, she and some board members were "locked out" of the Rescue Service offices for a time by other board members. The President in office at the time resigned on September 10 and Reasoner was placed back in office on the Board. After assessing the problems and challenges of the corporation's financial and organizational condition, the board determined that it would be best for the community to stand behind the Platte Canyon Fire Department and Chief Davis.

"I've known [Chief Davis] for a lot of years and he runs a tight ship," Reasoner said. "This is the best fire department around. I have every confidence that they can do this."

Davis announced that his department would proceed with their plans and training to have an ambulance service up and running on October 2. They plan to have qualified teams in place to begin covering the district immediately if they are cleared for a license by the BOCC. On a whiteboard behind Davis was written "Goal #1 - 1 ambo staffed 24/7" as of October 2. He is firm and says he holds no doubt that at minimum that first goal will be met. The department also has a second ambulance waiting to be stocked and manned and the Chief would like to acquire a third as their backup.

Since Platte Canyon Rescue received their Cease and Desist order, Elk Creek and South Park Ambulance have covered the Platte Canyon area's emergency medical needs along with first responders from the fire department. In answering a concern about delayed response times with ambulances coming from a greater distance, Chief Davis explained how promptly both services had been running on the community's calls. South Park Ambulance covers calls from Shawnee south while Elk Creek responds in the district north of Shawnee. "This trauma that we're having locally is affecting the whole 285 corridor," Davis said. If Elk Creek responds in Platte Canyon and then a call comes in for Elk Creek, services north cover for the absent Elk Creek unit and so on. "All of the people helping our community have been outstanding," he added. "We've got to step up and take care of 'here' and it will help the whole corridor."

Davis assured the group in attendance that the fire department had the financial strength and stability to start up the service and to run it with delayed income until they can evaluate it in six months for possible changes in procedure. Reasoner explained that collections for ambulance service are reduced by insurance limitations and other factors. They were very lucky if they collected 50-60% of their billing, Reasoner said. The rescue service was not supported by tax dollars and the ambulance operation under the fire department will also have to stand on its own. "We have a large and strong organization; we can do this," Davis said.

In addressing staffing questions, Davis pointed out that the Wildland Fire Team will be laying off for the winter. Seven of that team are EMTs and can roll into ambulance coverage as their "winter job." Fire Captain Tanya Wismar is coordinating EMS training and staffing and said that their ambulance service will be able to handle all situations up to operating as Advanced Life Support (ALS) in the very near future. Wismar encourages qualified EMS individuals to contact the fire department if they would like to join the new ambulance service.

Both Davis and Reasoner stayed front and center until all questions were answered and then remained with the group after the meeting was closed.