Quicker service may be headed to northeast Washington County
Posted on Friday, March 14, 2008
Some residents in northeast portions of Washington County may get faster ambulance response times in the next few years.
The first step toward this process was taken by the Washington County Finance Committee on Tuesday night. Committee members forwarded a resolution authorizing County Judge Jerry Hunton to apply for an Arkansas Rural Development Commission Grant on behalf of the Goshen Fire Department.
The Fire Department has presented plans for expansion of one of its fire stations to house a Central Emergency Medical Service ambulance.
Goshen fire Chief Chuck Huskey said on Thursday that CEMS officials asked the Fire Department about room for an ambulance.
"The intent of it is to accommodate an ambulance to help with all of northeast Washington County," Huskey said.
Tony Hickerson, chief financial officer for CEMS, said the service is looking at the possibility of moving the ambulance that is at the former Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville to the Goshen station.
That could occur when the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences opens a satellite campus at the former hospital site, but none of it is definite, Hickerson said.
"We don't know. We're looking toward the future," he said.
He said anytime the service looks at placing an ambulance, it considers call volume now and potential volume increases.
An ambulance in the Goshen area "would allow us to serve the east part of Fayetteville and that part of Washington County," he said.
The resolution for the Goshen grant application, due March 28, has been forwarded to the Washington County Quorum Court.
"We're asking for the maximum," said County Grants Administrator Wayne Blankenship. That is $ 30, 000.
He said he is uncertain when it will be awarded.
"I hope it's June. It could be. We don't know that," he said. "We're working toward another grant if at all possible."
There are two fire stations used by the Goshen Fire Department. One is located in the center of the city of Goshen. Station No. 2 is about two miles east of Fayetteville, Huskey said.
Neither station has an ambulance.
Station No. 2 is in a spot strategically located for an ambulance to serve the northeast part of the county, Huskey said.
Overall, he said, at least 60 percent, if not more, of the calls received by the Goshen Fire Department are medical calls. They run the gamut from heart attacks to motor vehicle accidents, he said.
The department is a first responder accompanying ambulance calls.
He said the number of overall calls to the department last year was 280. There were about 300 calls in 2006.
The expansion of Station No. 2 is likely to include a bay for the ambulance, an extra bay for a backup ambulance, living quarters for medics, and bathroom and cleanup facilities, Huskey said.
"We really don't have a total on the project yet," Huskey said. "We're thinking somewhere in the $ 150, 000 range."
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