News Tips Letters to Editor Subscriptions Classified Ads Legal Notices Contact Info

“As an administrator it doesn’t make me feel comfortable to only have 25 hours per week of paramedic service,” said Seeger. “I would like to see more for the community.”

When the elected body appeared hesitant about taking on the added personnel costs, Seeger proposed a town hall meeting. He said citizens needed to know exactly what level of coverage they could expect without an additional paid emergency service worker.

“I want you (council) to come to some type of an agreement and tell the community what you are comfortable with,” said Seeger.

“What we’re asking is how much Advanced Life Support services do you want in this community? How much are you willing to pay for?” said Fire Chief/Paramedic Jeff Pricher.

Mayor Brad Lorang gained consensus from the council to grant Seeger’s request. A public forum will be held to discuss the level of medical coverage at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. The meeting takes place in the new fire station at the east end of WaNaPa Street.

Seeger stated in a written staff report June 8 that part-time paramedic coverage was “inadequate” to meet community needs. He said Pricher could not be expected, as the only paid emergency service worker, to provide 24/7 coverage.

In 2007, the most recent year that figures are available, Pricher and volunteer firefighter/medics responded to 392 calls for assistance. One hundred and eighty of these incidents took place within the city limits. The remainder included response to trail rescues and other emergencies within the county and Gorge.

Seeger had asked the council earlier this spring to hire the second paramedic on a one-year trial basis. He wanted an opportunity to show that revenue from increased ambulance transports could pay the cost of wages and benefits, which he estimated at $65,274 per year.

In order to pare Pricher’s hours down to 40 per week, Seeger recommended that he provide medical services for 25 hours and spend the remaining 15 hours on firefighter duties.

Under Seeger’s plan, Pricher would work during regular business hours Monday through Friday. He would also be on call one weekend per month with additional pay.

Pricher was hired in February 2005 for $14.45 per hour and is now earning $24.09 per hour.

Cascade Locks’ fiscal year 2009-10 budget has been finalized without including funding for a second paramedic position. In a Wednesday interview, Seeger said the budget could still be amended if the council changed its mind about the issue.

Pricher told the council June 8 that the Hood River Fire Department was experiencing staffing reductions and budget constraints. He said, for those reasons, the agency was less able to provide inter-facility ambulance transports.

“That opens up the availability for us because Hood River is not able to staff all of those,” said Pricher.

Hood River Fire Chief Devon Wells said Pricher’s information was based upon budget reductions for 2009-10 that did not occur. He said firefighters gave up a cost of living increase and made other budget concessions to keep current staffing levels.

He said four paid employees were on duty each shift, which enabled the crew to respond to more than one call for assistance at a time.

“We are still in the business of making inter-facility transfers and we will still be providing mutual aid responses. It’s the same as it’s always been,” said Wells.

He said the cost to his department for a paramedic/firefighter position was about $88,698 per year, including wages and benefits.

He said about 60-70 percent of ambulance transport fees were typically collected. And the bill paid by Medicaid patients was, by law, reduced to $175, with Medicare clients paying $380 plus mileage.

According to Wells, it would take about 126 ambulance calls per year, with a $700 payment average, to cover the expenses for one paramedic.

At Cascade Locks’ meeting on Monday, Councilors Tom Cramblett, Tiffany Pruit and Kevin Benson raised concerns about incurring more emergency service costs.

They said a large debt was still owed on the new $1.7 million fire station and the city had just borrowed $25,000 from water reserve funds to pay for the new fire engine.

“Small towns have limited resources and have survived by volunteerism,” said Cramblett.

“I think we need a stronger effort to create some type of volunteer program for the fire and ambulance services.”

Lorang and Councilors Randy Holmstrom, Kerry Osbourn and Lance Masters appeared dissatisfied with part-time paramedic coverage.

The mayor said Pricher could not be expected to continue serving the city without set hours.

“What we have is a degenerating, constantly degrading level of service because you can’t ask anyone to work 24/7,” said Lorang.