Recently I had occasion to read an evaluation of the
emergency medical services provided throughout Washoe County. The evaluation
was done by the TriData Division of the System Planning Corporation under
contract to Washoe County. TriData’s report included several findings and
recommendations regarding actions that could be taken by the affected agencies
including the North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District.
The NLTFPD is the exclusive provider of emergency medical
services for Incline Village and Crystal Bay. The Fire District has provided these
services to our communities here at the Lake with great success for several
years, and I’ve yet to meet anyone who lives or visits here who has less than
the highest regard for the NLTFPD. The problem is that, as with so many things,
the report fails to distinguish between the part of Washoe County that is
inside the Tahoe Basin from the rest of the County.
EMS programs in the Truckee Meadows, including both Fire and
REMSA in the Reno/Sparks area, come in for substantial criticism in the report,
and TriData’s recommendations come under the heading of “Washoe County Wide”
changes to emergency medical services that are needed.
The concern is that if County-Wide changes are made with a
broad brush, NLTFPD’s ability to deliver the excellent service we have come to
expect could be impacted.
The report recommends that “The future of EMS in Washoe
County should include a countywide EMS system with responsibility for total
system oversight…A countywide EMS system could be overseen by the Washoe [District
Board of Health] or a Washoe County public safety agency. An EMS lead agency
should include an EMS Manager and staff and an EMS Medical Director. We include
several possible EMS organization models and specify EMS staff requirements.”
I have no argument with the notion that such oversight could
result in improved service for Reno, Sparks, and most of the County, but I have
every expectation that it would be disastrous for services here at the Lake.
When you put an excellent service provider under management that is (a) distant
and (b) broad in scope, you get what in statistics is called “regression toward
the mean.” In other words, if NLTFPD is an A and the rest of the County is a C,
everyone will get to be a B. Good for them, bad for us.
NFLTPD must obviously cooperate with Washoe County to ensure
that any improvements to county-wide emergency medical services are successful.
Any changes of ordinances, laws, protocols or certifications that may affect
the operations of the North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District’s existing
ability to provide the high level of emergency medical services currently
provided should require approval from the Board of Fire Directors of the North
Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District, and may require approval of the voters of
the District as well.
Rather than wait until we are fighting a defensive action,
IV/CB residents should let the County know that we will not accept any
solution, county-wide or otherwise, that detracts from the level of services we
have and that our taxes pay for. The TriData report went to John Slaughter,
Director of Management Services and Kurt Latipow, Fire Services Coordinator, in
the Washoe County Manager's Office, and those would be two good people to
communicate with, along with County Manager Katy Simon, the District Board of
Health, the NLTFPD Board, and the IVGID Board of Trustees who should be in the
forefront of this effort.
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