Oconto Falls city, ambulance service agree to five-year contract

The Oconto Falls Ambulance Service is still on track to reach its goal of becoming the first critical-care paramedic service in Oconto County when the new year begins.

The Oconto Falls City Council on Nov. 9 approved a five-year contract with the ambulance service, which is owned by the towns of Oconto Falls, Morgan, Stiles and Spruce, the city of Oconto Falls and the village of Lena. Each municipality has a vote on the board of directors and contributes annual fees to the operation.

The service is currently a volunteer advanced emergency medical technician (AEMT) life-support service with 30 self-scheduled members: The first responders and EMTs put themselves on the schedule around their full-time jobs and other activities.

The aim is to upgrade the service to a critical-care paramedic service in partnership with HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital in Oconto Falls and Bellin Health Oconto, two grades above AEMT and on par with County Rescue/Eagle III, Bay Area Ambulance and Shawano Ambulance. They would be the first paramedic ambulance service of any kind in Oconto County.

When service director Patrick Ahlgrim and his wife, Angie, appeared before the council in April, they said they were pursuing the upgrade in part because of the delays incurred when patients need to be transferred under paramedic care to a hospital in Green Bay or Milwaukee. In those cases patients are dependent on the out-of-county ambulance’s availability and the time it takes to arrive.

The approved contract calls for crews to be staffed by full-time employees rather than volunteers, with a crew consisting of a critical-care paramedic and a non-medic (EMR, EMT or AEMT) available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A second crew will be supplemented by salaried administrative staff as well as a roster of 30 volunteers. The full-time staff is to be comprised of three two-person crews, each working two 24-hour shifts a week, for a total of 12 staff members in all.

The upgrade in service comes with an increase in the fees paid by municipalities. The contract calls for the city’s share to jump from $40,560 in 2021 to at least $73,049 for the first year of the contract, based on its current certification as a full-time AEMT service. Once the critical-care paramedic certification is in, the city will pay $77,942. A 2% annual increase is built into the contract through 2026.

The service is accepting applications for all provider levels up to critical-care paramedic with employment in that capacity beginning Jan. 1.

Alderman Marty Coopman told the council that he and City Attorney Larry Jeske had met with the service operators since the contract was introduced in October and “cleared up all of the issues with the contract.”

Jeske said there were three issues. First, the contract was amended to include the actual annual payments; previously they had been spelled out in a separate letter of understanding. Then, they differentiated between the payments for the increased certification and having the paramedics hired and in place.

“If something would happen along the way, if that ambulance service became decertified or that person was no longer with them, it would revert to the lower payment,” Jeske said.

They also clarified the meaning of “patient charges” set by the ambulance service board of directors at its annual meeting, to make it clear those are charges to be paid by the patient and that the charges paid by the city are spelled out in the contract, he said.

It’s up to the state to issue the critical-care paramedic certification, and Coopman said while that had not yet come in, “We should be hearing any day now.”

Alderman Mat McDermid said his only concern is that if the service is unable to maintain the higher certification, the city would still be paying a much higher fee than it is now. Coopman said that’s because it’s hiring the full-time staff.

“Let’s say the licensure doesn’t come through, it would still be a full-time AEMT service, so that’s where that comes from,” Coopman said. “Going back to a volunteer service is not even possible right now. Couldn’t happen.”

Pressed by McDermid and Alderman Devin Wirtz about what would happen if the service did revert to the current volunteer, part-time service — as unlikely as that now appears — Jeske said the city and ambulance service would renegotiate the contract.