UPDATE: Fire district ambulance service approved

Fire District 13 is ready to start transporting patients to area hospitals with its new ambulance.

Chief Roy Horn said the district was anticipating a go-ahead from the Skagit County Commissioners next week to get the program rolling. UPDATE: The approval came Monday to start it up with a six-month pilot program.

Horn said that initially the ambulance will respond to calls only within the District 13 boundaries, but it will be available to be dispatched anywhere in the county if it is needed.

“I envision us to eventually assist in La Conner and Anacortes,” he said.

Fire District 13 surrounds the Town of La Conner, which has its own Volunteer Fire Department responding to medical aid calls.

Presently ambulance service for medical aid calls in the District 13 communities west of the Swinomish Channel, including Shelter Bay, Swinomish Village and the Casino, is provided by Anacortes Fire Department, which has paramedics on its ambulances.

On the east side of the channel, which includes Pleasant Ridge and Channel Drive, the provider is Central Valley Ambulance, which operates Medic 1, also staffed by paramedics.

Fire District 13’s ambulance will have emergency medical technicians, or EMTs, on board, who will be able to provide basic life support, or BLS, service for people whose conditions are not considered immediately life-threatening and non-emergency patient transfers, such as between a hospital and a nursing home.

In contrast, paramedics who staff Anacortes Fire and Central Valley ambulances can provide advanced life support, or ALS, service because their high level of training has them prepared to perform certain medical procedures to stabilize serious trauma patients and people with life-threatening conditions.

As it turns out, most ambulance rides are for people whose injuries are not life-threatening. That’s where BLS service comes in — the technicians aboard Fire District 13’s ambulance, could provide transportation to the hospital, freeing up the paramedics to respond to the next emergency.

Still, under the fire district’s plan, paramedics will still respond to evaluate every patient and decide which ambulance should transport them. The idea is to avoid situations in which the paramedics are tied up driving someone to the hospital who needs minimal care when a more serious call comes in.

At a meeting of the Skagit County Emergency Medical Services Delivery Model Advisory Group last month, representatives from the county’s three ambulance providers, which includes Aero Skagit in the east county area, first responders and municipal representatives, Fire District 13’s proposal was discussed with the county commissioners present.

Taxpayers pay a Medic One property tax levy, which supports the three existing services. Concerns voiced included having other entities competing for the limited tax dollars. However, some emergency medicine experts say there is a potential for eventual cost savings by integrating BLS ambulance service with an ALS response.

Cascade Valley Ambulance is conducting a pilot program in Sedro-Woolley to test a BLS model in conjunction with the ALS ambulance service.

The next meeting of the Delivery Model Advisory Group is June 6. Horn said to begin service, the fire district’s effort needs approval by the county commissioners.

The district purchased its ambulance this year in conjunction with the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, which agreed to contribute 40 percent of the cost.