EMS service fee to be instituted in Rockingham County

The Rockingham County Commissioners, at their Monday evening meeting, voted unanimously to institute a $60 service call fee for EMS response calls that do not require transport.

“We want to discourage people from tying up our ambulances,” County Manag-er Tom Robinson said.

In recent years, Robinson said, more and more people have begun to call EMS for non-emergency reasons, such as evaluating their medical condition or checking their blood pressure. Robinson believes the reason for the calls is that it is cheaper than going to the doctor or going to the emergency room.

Emergency Services Direc-tor Steve Hale recommended the new charge as a way to help offset the cost of changing the regular 24-hour shifts worked by EMTs and paramedics to 12-hour shifts at the Eden base. Robinson estimated the additional cost to operate the Eden base will be $176,000. The base will require the hiring of three or four additional employees.

“More and more operations across the state are switching over (to 12-hour shifts),” Robinson said. “The only place we’re doing the 12-hour shifts is in Reidsville.”

Robinson said the original reason why EMS operations had 24-hour shifts was because the lapse time between calls allowed paramedics and EMTs to rest. With the increase in the volume of emergency service calls, the lapse time has decreased and EMTs and paramedics are responding to calls without getting adequate rest, said Robinson.

Also at Monday night’s meeting, Lee Dixon of EDA Architects presented the design for the new animal shelter. The board voted to put the proposals out to bid. The county will put out the bids after receiving the permits to build the shelter.

The cost of phase one is just under $1.1 million. The cost of phase two, an adoption center, is $655,000. The cost of phase three, a spay-and-neuter clinic, is $165,000.

Adam Lindsay, budget and performance manager for Rockingham County, said bidding out the complete shelter project, rather than bidding it out in individual phases, will save the county money.

“If you do it all at once, you’re going to get a better price,” he said, adding that economic conditions have led to a marked increase in construction costs as well. “We believe these are favorable times to bid a project out.”

The county plans to pursue federal stimulus money and USDA funding for the shelter, said Robinson. He said the commissioners will decide on the design of the shelter after receiving the bids.

The Rockingham County Animal Shelter Campaign is continuing its private fund-raising efforts. The campaign has raised $75,000 and hopes to raise $100,000 by the end of the year, according to Lindsay. He said the new shelter is being designed to hold more animals and to hold them in more humane conditions. The basic new animal shelter is just under 6,000 square feet, much larger than the current shelter. Lindsay said Dixon, who designed the animal shelter in Moore County, is designing the shelter in Rockingham County to last “at least 50 years.”

Other business

• The Rockingham County Commissioners adopted a resolution withdrawing Rockingham County from the Alamance-Caswell-Rockingham LME and joining CenterPoint Human Services LME for mental health services.

• Baines can be reached at mbaines@reidsvillereview.com or 349-4331, ext. 35.