911 Board Hears Air Ambulance Dispatching Proposal

Effingham County 911 Board members Tuesday discussed a proposal to route calls for air ambulance service through 911 telecommunicators.

Representatives of Arch Air and Air Evac were present to discuss a proposal already in place in Marion County. Larry Thies of Air Evac admitted the proposal was in part the result of a situation in May when a crash north of Effingham resulted in seven different air ambulances being dispatched to the scene. Thies said the calls came from various emergency services agencies as well as the public.

Effingham City Police Chief Mike Schutzbach, Effingham Fire Chief Joe Holomy, 911 System Administrator Jodi Moomaw and County Sheriff's Department representative Darren Deters all serve on the 911 Board, and all had concerns if not objections to the proposal.

Holomy said he didn't think the 911 Board should dictate how an emergency services agency operates. He and Moomaw said that even if the law enforcement and fire agencies adhere to the guideline, members of the general public could still call for air ambulances to be sent to a scene and so could ground-based ambulance services. All of those factors played a part in the seven-ambulance situation in May. Thies and new 911 board member Johnathan Paholke said hospital officials are on board with their recommedation.

After considerable discussion, it was suggested that the county fire chiefs discuss the proposal and that the police agencies and sheriff's department talk over the matter and then revisit the issue.

The 911 Board briefly discussed the efficiency study of 911 by Intertech Associates, which is now complete. The upshot of the report is that while some things could have been done differently when 911 was established in the county, the current system is effective and efficient as operated. There are recommendations that the county PSAP location be enlarged and some equipment recommendations that will be utilized. 

911 Board Chairman Nick Althoff said after the meeting that the study will be available as a reference guide for future 911 Board members and local agencies, too, especially when the Board moves into planned replacement of consoles and other equipment.

Speaking of equipment, Effingham City-County Ambulance Service and Altamont Ambulance Service are the only agencies still using the 800 megahertz communication system. Randy Neal of Motorola said he plans to have the ambulance service off 800 within 30 days. As to a question whether any other agency might be interested in buying the 800 equipment, Neal said some of the power supplies might even be useful to the county's system, while there is an agency in Lawrence County that might be interested in the other items.