Washington council approves purchases for new EMS service

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, the city of Washington took another step toward the establishment of a new quick responder service (QRS).

The council officially accepted the recommendations of the EMS Study Committee to establish an EMS unit within the Washington Fire Department.

The council approved the purchase of $7,500 in medical equipment and supplies for the new unit.

“We’re bringing the equipment list to show you everything involved in this,” City Administrator Brent Hinson said.

The fire department plans to move forward with purchasing a three-quarter-ton crew cab pickup truck for additional EMS and firefighter transport.

“ (Fire Chief) Brendan (DeLong) felt we needed a second vehicle to do this right,” Hinson said. “I urged Brendan to look at the state contract.”

DeLong said that the $40,000 vehicle would be purchased with excess fund balance from this year’s budget if the funds are available. If not, the City Council would have to decide whether to make the purchase.

The council agreed at its April 20 meeting to submit an application to the state for the approval of the Washington EMS. The application process takes about 60 days.

The service would work as a supplement to the Washington County Ambulance Service.

The plan is to affiliate the new service with the Washington County Ambulance Service.

Carrie Ornduff will be appointed to assistant chief for EMS.

The roster will be made up of about 20 volunteers who will rotate on-call shifts.

Hinson said that the goal is to have the service up and running on July 1.