Photo by Kirsten Zoellner
Rushford Ambulance Director Joey Busse updated the Rushford City Council at the March 10 meeting. He included details on legislative progress, personnel, training, recruitment/retention, and equipment and vehicle updates.
“I’ve done quite a few things with the service so far,” began Busse, who has been in the role since June last year. “A lot of the things I’m doing is trying to bring it up to the highest scope that a BLS [Basic Life Support] service can do.”
There was a one-time infusion of funding last year which has helped some, but ambulance services in the state are working diligently with the legislature to find permanent funding.
City Clerk Kathy Zacher noted the one-time funding was determined by a formula based on the area covered, the number of ambulance runs, and the area within the state. The Rushford Ambulance Service covers 177 square miles encompassing three cities and eight townships.
According to Busse, the one-time funding pitch was initially for $120 million but was whittled down to just $24 million. The state broke this down into $4 million for two pilot programs up north and $20 million that was divided up between other service departments, both public and private, within the state. Zacher added that funding is only provided to services operating in the red.
“It doesn’t make sense waiting until they’re in crisis,” said Mayor Terri Benson.
Another ongoing problem is recouping the cost of emergency runs. Busse estimates Medicare only pays 60% of the flat rate charged. Every year, the ambulance service has uncollected bills that eventually need to be written off when there’s no way to recoup them.
Busse and the crew went for “Hail Mary” funding this year and created a commercial submission for the chip brand Doritos, running an ad contest during the Super Bowl. Entries were voted on and the winner received $1 million and playtime during the broadcast.
“For a while, we were winning,” Busse laughed. Unfortunately, the service wasn’t one of the three finalists chosen.
The department currently has 22 members and is “holding good.” This includes Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT), Emergency Medical Responders, and dedicated drivers. In a pinch, the service can answer calls with just a driver and EMT. Still, the department is working hard to find additional personnel. A higher daily on-call pay rate was approved earlier this year and it’s working well. However, Busse isn’t sure about the long-term feasibility of the on-call pay program.
The service is creating two promotional videos to highlight its work and to recruit more members. One was made at Rusted Iron Ranch north of the city and depicted a suspenseful motor vehicle extraction. The second was filmed at city hall and depicted a cardiac arrest situation. It will include interviews with staff. Busse would also like to do a promotional flyer or postcard with a QR code that links to the videos and the ambulance service information.
One long-term plan is to improve the ambulance service headquarters. Ideally, it would push out a back wall to make room for a decontamination shower, two small sleeping rooms, and a kitchenette area. The most important thing this would offer is more room for training, which is becoming increasingly crowded.
Busse was recently certified with the Minnesota Department of Transportation as a CPR trainer. Now, Busse looks to make Rushford more of a training site for other area ambulance services to bolster opportunities for new employees coming in and as a potential revenue source. With the demand, education space is limited and it’s not feasible to rent space due to the vast amount of equipment.
Busse enrolled the service in a Southeast Minnesota Medical Directors Consortium with a training aspect. They provide training for medical recertification. Rushford is a satellite program for the consortium, the only member not utilizing their medical director services. The training is held at the ambulance service headquarters five times a year and renewed every two years. Specific topics are needed to maintain licenses. Additional training in-house adds to monthly education. Busse says he tries to think outside the box and be hands-on with training while being upbeat and informative.
The service received several equipment updates, including new lead monitors for cardiac patients to recognize early heart symptoms, improvements with breathing treatments for people in respiratory distress, and continuing intravenous setup improvements for better proficiency.
After a four-year wait time, the service received its new ambulance rig last December. They retrofitted it with equipment, including new comms, LED lighting, and a brush guard and grill installed for inevitable deer strikes. The service is currently selling its old 2007 ambulance rig through Fire USA with no sales commission. The revenue generated from that will go towards future service needs. With the last rig purchase, the service had built up funds for years before ordering. Zacher cautioned that the service might not have enough built-up funds by the time they need to order the next rig but noted there are low-interest funding sources through several government departments and organizations.
Busse also shared with the council a side project he created with John Hateli, which he jokingly called “The Joey Belt.” Gait belts typically used to hold onto mobile patients are uncomfortable and prone to slipping up their bodies, no matter how well tightened. Busse and Hateli created a belt with a middle belt between the legs that better supports patients and is easier to handle. The service now has three belts in different sizes in each truck.
“A lot of things you’ve done are good for the EMTs, too,” said Zacher. “It makes their job easier and safer.”
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