QRS a possibility in Washington

WASHINGTON - Citizens in Washington could have additional emergency medical support in the form of a Quick Responder Service (QRS) available as soon as July 1.

At the city council meeting Tuesday night, City Administrator Brent Hinson sent a memo to the council explaining a committee has met twice to look into the possibility.

QRS would be dispatched to a scene to help before the ambulance arrived, effectively bridging the gap between the time an accident occurs and the time it takes for the ambulance service to get to the scene.

Danielle Pettit-Majewski, city council member and Washington County Public Health Director, said due to changes in the Iowa Code that would effect emergency medical services, the state is pushing for communities to put all emergency medical services under a unified system.

'They do not want a single community member to be one broken hip away from not having a first responder service when we have all these volunteer services that don't have connections,” she said. 'What they're trying to do is connect all of these together so they have the same policies and procedures and have the same director and running under the same system.”

By adding in a QRS unit in Washington, it would add an additional form of medical support.

'I think for a long time, we just used Washington County Ambulance as our first responder service, but they could easily be in Brighton or at the University (of Iowa Hospital and Clinics) or on a transport, so this is to try and fill that gap for when there is a call and nobody is available to respond,” she said.

The proposed QRS unit in Washington would be housed in the Washington Fire Station. Because the fire department already requested an SUV in the Fiscal Year 21 budget, it would be used as the QRS vehicle. Anyone involved in the service would need to be at least an Emergency Medical Responder (EMR) but anyone trained to be an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) would be able to perform those duties as well, the memo states.

Eight members of the fire department have expressed an interest in gaining their EMR certification and three existing members are already EMTs. Washington Police Chief Jim Lester is currently working to get his EMS trainer certification renewed, the memo states, which will fulfill the goal of being able to set up a class in town for anyone interested. The goal is to have at least 12 members that can regularly respond to calls.

Hinson said with the county moving forward with establishing its own ambulance service, this would be a support to that service.

'I think we're going to have a fantastic county wide ambulance service and is going to be a great partner to us going forward, which may help guide us a little bit,” he said.

The committee still is in the research phase and has not made any decisions to bring to the council yet, he said. Hinson said the goal is to have 'all our ducks in a row” by April to be ready to apply to the Department of Public Health in order to establish QRS in Washington.

In the Fiscal Year 21 budget, $30,000 has been budgeted for EMS expenses, according to the memo. It is proposed an additional $30,000 be authorized into the current fiscal year to cover cost of training, equipment and supplies.

No formal decision has been reached.