“We have an opportunity to expand our Advanced Life Support services as well as provide preventative prehospital medicine to our community with our current staff without having to increase our budget," he said.
BAS will begin a Community Health Emergency Medical Service (CHEMS) program with three of its paramedics this month. All three paramedics attended Community Paramedic Training through Idaho State University, funded by a state grant program.
The Community Paramedics will be partnering with Boundary Community Hospital as well as local clinics to assist with prehospital community health needs.
The second change BAS announced is a partnership with the South Boundary Fire Protection District to house a BAS paramedic for increased coverage to the southern portions of Boundary County. The coverage provided will be on a temporary three month trial and will be revisited by both BAS and SBFPD Boards to see if the program should continue.
“We looked to see where our busy areas were and the southern end of the county is definitely one of our busiest," Lindsey said. "I approached Chief Tony Rohrwasser and pitched the idea of housing one of our paramedics in a SBFPD firehouse a few days a week. Chief Rohrwasser took it to his fire commissioners, I took it to my board of directors and both have agreed to have this move forward on a three month trial. We appreciate the SBFPD for helping us get our busier areas covered without having to build new stations. This is a huge step forward in trying to strategically place resources, without having huge costs associated ."
The move will place the southern areas of Boundary County, including the busy Highway 95 corridor, closer to Advanced Life Support coverage.