VIENNA — Freeburg Mayor Darryl Haller came to the Maries-Osage Ambulance (MOAD) Board meeting in October to talk to the board members about some recent problematic ambulance responses.

He said what the Freeburg citizens have been seeing lately is a delayed ambulance response time. There is too much time between the time the call comes in to when the ambulance arrives on scene. On a recent Saturday night, around midnight, a Freeburg resident was having difficulty breathing. The ambulance and the fire department were paged out. The firemen arrived but they are not trained EMT’s or Paramedics. It was 40 minutes before an ambulance professional arrived and they were from Linn. “There was nobody in Freeburg,” at the ambulance base, Haller said. He understands being short-handed with employees as it is a current problem for everyone. Haller asked, “What can we do to get a better response?”

He said maybe MOAD needs to pass a tax. “Our people want to see results,” and whatever they pay for now or if they pay more, they want a “fair shake.” He knows as board members they have an uphill battle, but he wanted them to know that Freeburg citizens currently have some concerns.

MOAD Administrator Carla Butler said the issue is lack of sufficient staffing and MOAD is not the only district experiencing this difficulty. Haller said it needs to be fixed. Butler said it is impossible to compete with hospitals which are paying $70 an hour in the city. This is depleting the number of people who are working for small districts. MOAD’s starting pay for Paramedics is $13.85 and hour and for EMTs it is $10.85 an hour. 

Haller said, “You are not getting good publicity right now.” Butler said, “You had a truck in Freeburg today and yesterday, but not in Vienna.”

Board member Laura Stratman said they’ve been talking about this issue for months, adding they are trying to solve the problem. Haller asked if the district doesn’t have the money to raise wages. Stratman said a $1 an hour raise 24/7 times four people is a lot of money. 

Haller asked about using CARES Act money or ARPA money. MOAD Board member and Maries County Presiding Commissioner Victor Stratman said it is COVID-19 money and it can be used for hazard duty. With the ARPA money they can’t. He said they talked to a lawyer last week and still don’t have answers for spending the money. They can use it to hire someone full time to clean and disinfect but they can’t use it for someone who is hired already and get reimbursed with the federal money. Haller said maybe they should pass a tax. He said people don’t mind paying if they get good service.

Butler said the district takes transfers, such as from nursing homes to hospitals, and these trips MOAD gets paid for. But transfers take an ambulance out of emergency service so MOAD can’t do transfers if they don’t have a crew available. 

Board President Don Lanning said even if MOAD got a tax passed the district still could not compete with the area hospitals. Board Vice President Steve Maxwell said the majority of the emergency medical staffers MOAD hires work somewhere else as well. He added the people who work at the hospitals are on mandatory overtime, adding to the problem. Laura Stratman said MOAD likes to have one Paramedic on the crew all of the time. 

Haller asked if MOAD lets 911 Dispatch know when they don’t have a crew available. Butler said she calls 911 Dispatch every day with the status of MOAD trucks. 

Haller brought up a recent incident in Freeburg when a young person overdosed. The call for the ambulance was made at 7:50 and at 8:17 an Osage County Sheriff’s Deputy gave the patient the first dose of NARCAN. This nasal spray is used to reverse an opioid overdose. Butler said MOAD’s EMT’s are getting trained to give NARCAN. 

Lanning said Saturday night two calls came in at the same time. Butler said MOAD called Ozark Central Ambulance in Belle for mutual aid. When they get a request for a truck, they can’t deny the call and have to go. 

Haller said the board has his support if they have a good plan of action. Laura Stratman said they need to promote going to school to become an EMT. Haller said he appreciated the board for hearing him out. “Two minutes can make a big difference. I don’t want it to get bad.” He added he hopes they can find the right plan of action. 

In other business at the Oct. MOAD board meeting:

—The hand-held radios were picked up from A&W Communications in Jefferson City but they are not programmed properly. The numbers are messed up as they are backward. They were taken back for re-programming.

—At the Freeburg Base, Maxwell said the work was done on the front porch and he planned to do the painting soon.

—Butler said the district’s Facebook page is up. She will start to introduce staff. She had photos of their breast cancer awareness shirts and about a blood pressure cuff donation for the cardiac monitors.

—Butler wants to purchase a new laptop. She contacted RCS but they did not return her call. She got a quote from Dell with a five-year warranty with Microsoft Office and Word. Vic Stratman said the courthouse IT Manager “has an in” with Dell and maybe Butler can talk to him about buying the laptop.

—Butler said CMS is supposed to release when vaccine mandate for all employees becomes effective and she’s not sure when the deadline will be.

—MOAD submitted a request for ARPA funds through both Maries and Osage counties. The district is asking for three Stryker Medical Power Load Systems and a McGrath Laryngoscope with various size blades. The request from each county is about $46,000 each. Butler said she was at a hospital recently and saw an ambulance crew using the power lift system. The crew member used one finger to push a button  to do the loading/unloading of a patient.

—Butler said the district received a bill from UMC Extension for fire and rescue training from a person who is not employed with the district but used MOAD as the employer. She contacted former administrator Brian Opoka who said they will bill him for it.

—There will be a meeting of Osage and Maries County Dispatch and the Maries County Emergency Management Director with crew members. Working together is the best way. 

—Butler said the 3g modems they hook to the back of a cardiac monitor, which transfers the monitor activity are not working and are obsolete. In super rural areas hot spots won’t work. MOAD has been contacted by a couple of companies and are trying new modems which transfer the monitor readings to the hospital and doctors. The cost is three modems for $4,000 with a $40 per truck per month fee. It will be like having internet on the trucks. Doctors receiving the information may ask the crew working the ambulance to do something different when he/she receives the information. 

The district has three cell phones and currently the pays $68.24 for the first one, and $23.24 for the second and $23.24 for the third one. If this new 3g modem system works, they can eliminate the cell phones and pay $40 per truck to have internet. Butler said they are working on this. Getting EKG strips to doctors is time critical. EMS staffer present at the meeting, Amanda Reichel, said the doctors who see the EKG can have a cardiac cath team ready to go when the ambulance gets to the hospital. Butler said the district can have a loaner for a month to see how it works for them. First Net takes priority on the cell phone towers and cuts somebody off to let this important information go through. Zoll works with this as well. 

—Butler said Leonard got in the attic at the Vienna Base and said it needs insulation very badly. Maxwell suggested renting a machine, buying insulation and getting someone to do it.

—Ron Hoffman in Osage County asked Butler to be on the 911 Advisory Council and she said yes. The council meeting is Nov. 17. 

—Butler reported they had two calls to Maries R-1 School. In one the crew went and the parents on the phone asked to be picked up by the ambulance on the way. They said no. The crew also was asked to wait on transporting the student until the parents got there. They said no. Anther call with a different student there was the same situation as the crew was asked to wait on the scene for the parent to arrive. Butler said they can’t do this as the crew is required to board and go. Butler talked to the school nurse about it. 

—Butler said four to five years ago, a washer and dryer set were purchased for the Vienna Base. There was a recall on the washer, the company sent a check and MOAD bought a new washer. The recalled washer was put in Freeburg for a spare. They recently found out the recalled washer is at Craig Faith’s house in Freeburg. Opoka was asked about it and didn’t remember this until he talked to Faith. Stratman suggested putting a price on it, which they decided to be $100, and Faith can pay it or bring back the washer.

—Butler said she reached out to the auditor since she is now the administrator and she does the office work, too. It was suggested she send the bank account info to all board members and that someone else go get the mail, go to the bank, to send the board members the payroll and have a board member learn how to do the payroll. Board member Laura Miller will do this.

—The board gave permission for Butler’s husband to bring some non-narcotic drugs from Mercy in Washington to her. Butler will go three to four times a year in an ambulance to get the narcotics. 

—In the financial report, September income was $35,973.28, expenses were $45,614.17 for a negative net income of $9,640.89. 

Of the income, $55.08 was Maries County taxes, $78.14 Osage County taxes, $14,660.92 service fees, $21,163.40 sales tax, and $15.74 interest. 

—Butler reported September stats: ambulances were in route following being paged out within an average of 3.97 minutes; arrived on the scene in an average of 13.63 minute; arrived on scene to left scene an average of 22.24 minutes; arrive at destination an average of 42.17 minutes; arrived back in service an average of 66.95 minutes.

MOAD run numbers

The Maries-Osage Ambulance District (MOAD) reported a total of 43 ambulance responses during September.

Of those responses, 37 were in the Vienna zone and six were in the Freeburg zone.

Of the Vienna responses 21were urgent emergencies, 15 dry runs, and one non-routine emergency.

Of the six responses in the Freeburg zone, three were urgent emergencies, two were dry runs, and one was a routine non emergency.