BELLE — Ozark Central Ambulance District (OCAD) has had to spend more than $7,500.00 on vehicle maintenance for August while facing low income during the same time period.

Truck 51 currently has a problem with the air conditioning and is having issues.

“It (Truck 51) was giving us a problem on a call. It was overheating and making a grinding noise,” said Holtmeyer. “We towed it to St. James, but they couldn’t get it to reproduce the issue. They didn’t find anything so it’s back.”

Another truck was able to be obtained from Crawford County so the crew could continue working. The truck was found with the help of OCAD Board President Cindy Butler.

Truck 53 recently had its air conditioning fixed, but now OCAD is waiting on parts to come in to fix an issue with its front end.

OCAD Administrator Darian Holtmeyer said, “Technically it’s out of service now because the sway bar has a cracked mount on it and it still needs front end alignment and some other work.”

Truck 50 is currently dealing with a leaking fuel line.

“What he (the mechanic) told me this morning was he had part of the leaking line coming out and may have to review a few more things. Which could mean either a few more hours of work or a few more days,” said Office Assistant Bill Lewis.

Truck 52 has been fully serviced and has new tires.

Holtmeyer presented his report over the phone during the Sept. 20 meeting with OCAD Vice President Andy Littrell assisting by reading off the organization’s financial report.

Income for August was reported at $28,393.59 while expenditures for the period totaled $46,951.72, leaving a deficit for the month in the amount of $18,558.13. Total available funds are currently $339,689.72.

“That’s the lowest I’ve ever seen it (income). Somebody didn’t pay or what?” asked Board Member John Dorsey. 

Littrell said, “If you look back a month you’ll see a lower call volume.”

“July was only 48 calls,” clarified OCAD Board President Cindy Butler.

Lewis said, “When we have automobile accidents it takes insurance companies sometimes two to three years to get those in, depending on what they’re doing.”

Dorsey said, “We’ve spent $27,000.00 in maintenance. Looks to me like rather than  continuing on that road we could buy a couple new ones and afford a payment.”

“It’s $243,000.00 for a new truck with the stuff that we have to have for COVID,” said Lewis. “The ultraviolet light in it, the hepa filter, and the sliding glass between the cab and the door.”

Dorsey asked if they could put it out for bid for new ambulances to see what three different companies could come up with. 

Lewis said he has reached out and is waiting for responses.

“We need to do something because by the time the year is over we’re going to spend $50,000.00 in maintenance,” said Dorsey.

“We’re trying,” said Lewis. “We’re trying to get grants. It’s not that we aren’t working on it. We got to get people to respond to us.”

Another unexpected expense was the air conditioning compressor going out in the crew quarters. The cost for the repair was $2,850.00 and the service was performed by Arnco Mechanical LLC from Rolla.

“The way things are going we need to ask for a tax increase,” said Dorsey.

“I don’t think they’ll go for it,” said Butler.

“We got to push for it,” said Holtmeyer. “If we got to jump into this we’ll jump into this. Even if they won’t go for it, we need to push for it.”

“I don’t think now, with our decreased ability to respond and keep our crews, is a good time to ask,” said Butler. “I think it would blow up if we tried for a tax increase. I think you’re better off asking for individuals that have the ability to help out.”

“How many years are we going to last without it,” asked Dorsey.

“Not many if we keep having negative months,” said Butler.

“You don’t think the community would listen to the needs of our finances?” asked Dorsey.

“Honestly, John, whenever you look at this building, and we went into this knowing about the building and the cost and expense of it; knowing that our other building was falling apart… I just don’t think that now is the right time, with the economy going in the direction it’s going, to ask for a tax increase. I think people will say we shouldn’t have built this building,” said Butler.

The board agreed they would exhaust every possibility before asking for any kind of tax increase. 

Butler said that they have four ambulances and are lucky to have one or two crews at a time. Butler cited that if the ambulances were in better shape that the district wouldn’t have to rely on all four.

OCAD is facing the same issues as other ambulance districts; there is a shortage of EMS workers not only in Missouri, but across the country.

“It’s a nationwide shortage,” said Butler. “It’s not isolated to us, but it doesn’t help that we have so many expenses on ambulances. It would seem to me we’d be better off getting rid of a few and get something more reliable.”

Butler spoke on the possibility of doing some community education to help residents understand what EMS services are for.

“Lift assists are not what EMS is for,” said Butler. “Ambulances need to be used for emergencies. We have a lot of dry run calls for lift assists to pick people off the floor and for uncontrolled diabetics who then refuse to go to the hospital. If you look at our dry run calls sometimes there is a distance. That causes wear and tear on our vehicles and costs fuel. We are not able to bill for those lift assists. It’s going to get tough, but we need to start letting the community know what we are for.”

Lewis said that so far this year there have been 679 calls for service and that 242 of them were dry runs which the district can’t bill people for.

“That is almost a third of all of our calls and that is a huge expense,” said Butler.

CALLS FOR SERVICE

Life Threatening: 26

Emergency: 37

Dry Runs: 35

Transfers: 7

Total Billed: $66,900.00

*Holtmeyer mentioned rising costs of basic medical supplies such as masks, gloves, gowns, etc. having a factor on expenses as well.

*Holtmeyer has requested ARPA funds from Maries County for a new ambulance.

*Bids are being taken for concrete and electrical work for helipad project. Work will be contingent on available funds from donations.

*Gravel is in place for helipad.

*Representative Bruce Sassmann is researching ways to help the district.

*Next meeting will be Oct. 18 at 6:30 p.m.