First responders
February 17th, 2007 by 
Alica
Minnehaha County sheriff’s deputies will be trained in emergency response techniques this year, according to a Feb. 12 Argus Leader story. Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead is quoted in the story as saying the project is designed to enhance, not replace, emergency medical services in Minnehaha County.
Since law enforcement is often on the scene before anyone else, this seems like a sound plan. Deputies will be better trained to determine whether or not an ambulance is necessary. This could free up ambulances that are needed elsewhere. It could save people and their insurance companies money, and that’s good for all of us.
Does this new program influence how you feel about Brandon’s proposed ambulance law?
Posted in Uncategorized, Ambulance | 
February 17th, 2007 at 8:12 am
Not in the least. We have a local police department in Brandon responding, not Sheriffs deputies. Also, I’m relalively sure that an ambulance service only charges if the patient is actually transported. So if they are dispatched and the patient does not need or refuses transport, they are not charged.
February 17th, 2007 at 9:14 am
It is good to be educated, but the majority of the time, they (Brandon Police) have other duties to perform at the scene. Present circumstances are that the patent is charged only if transported…but will this be the same if a small service comes to town? Can they afford to do the same?
February 21st, 2007 at 9:15 pm
I guess what I don’t get is that people assume that any service coming to town won’t be Rural Metro. I’m sure, being the 2nd largest ambulance company in nation, that they can probably put together a proposal just like anyone else. There’s nothing to stop AMR, the largest company, or anyone else from submitting a bid. I looked around at what other cities in the state do. Pierre, a small town, has AMR doing their ambulance stuff.
And, someone asked what I liked about the new proposal. I looked over those links to that county law regarding ambulance services. I appreciate you posted them because navigating all the different websites takes a lot of time to get what you want. The proposed ordinance says to follow the county law except in a few situations. That seems pretty sound.
Brandon Fire is pretty decent. They have to sit at a call and wait for a transport ambulance to arrive from SF. I didn’t realize this until I read it here. Why can’t they get a way to transport people or get their own EMTs and Paramedics? We have that ambulance and that new building but it seems unfortunate that they have to wait. I was getting gas the other night and saw them drive by for some fire, I guess. I forgot that we have an ambulance, too.
What are the laws about that? People make lots of little comments and we all know who they are directed at in town. But there’s a lot of options for Brandon. I just like the idea of having better times for people. I know people talk about AEDs and what not, but remember the deal with the city commissioner and the bee sting? Pretty scary deal.
I see the deputys in town all the time anyway. Drive by the gas station up on the interstate some night. They’re right there. So I know the deputy will be around. It’s a good thing to have more people who know what the hell their doing anyway. But you can’t expect a deputy to run medical stuff when they have to be out in the county doing law enforcement.
February 22nd, 2007 at 9:58 am
Paul,
Thanks for your comments. You bring up some good points. I’m not familiar with AMR, so I don’t know if they would be interested in offering service to Brandon. But I know that the Minnehaha County ambulance ordinance says the county will not license ambulance services to overlap territory. So if Brandon licenses some other service, it could mean that we’ll lose Rural Metro. That concerns me.
You’re right when you say it seems sound that the proposed city ordinance defaults to the county ordinance. What it actually says is that all services licensed by the city must be licensed first by Minnehaha County, or must provide documentation that they meet all the requirements of the county ordinance as well as the “different or additional provisions” of the city ordinance. To me, that’s unclear. When the proposed city ordinance doesn’t mention a topic at all, like record keeping for example, does that mean the city would default to the county on that topic, or would that be considered one of those “different provisions?” I know it’s a matter of semantics, but it could lead to an argument, or even a court case, over interpretation. So why not be more specific in the ordinance in the first place and not leave yourself open to possible future problems?
I just got off the phone with Larry Johnson, fire chief of the Brandon Volunteer Fire Department, and he said there are 39 firefighters in the department right now. Of those, 16 are EMTs. None are paramedics. The department doesn’t have an ambulance but they do have a rescue unit, which is equipped like an ambulance except that they can’t carry drugs and they aren’t allowed to transport patients.
I should point out that Brandon has a city council, not a commission. Brandon is divided into three wards with two council members elected from each ward. If the people were elected at large, it would be called a commission.
I agree with you that it’s a good thing to have more people know about medical procedures, in case of emergency.
Thanks a lot for your comments. Sharing thoughts like this is one of the great things about our type of government, which works best when the people discuss ideas and educate themselves before they vote on things.