By Ken Smith
Turnagain Times
A few months ago, Whittier’s emergency medical service didn’t exist. They had no full-time paramedics, no director, and no volunteers.
Fast-forward to the present, and the city has hired a Public Safety Director, two paramedics, and 10 volunteers are onboard.
The timing couldn’t have been better. With summer visitors and cruise ship passengers arriving, the city is prepared for the inevitable barrage of emergency calls.
“We’ve had a very good turnout of volunteers, and I’m very pleased with it,” said Dave Schofield, Whittier’s new Public Safety Director. “The cohesion of the group that has been built is fantastic in such a short time.”
Schofield, 39, arrived from St. Paul Island, where he worked as a Sergeant on the police force and in the Department of Public Safety, and most recently as the Chief Engineer for Trident Seafoods.
Whittier received an infusion of cash over the last two summers from the cruise ship tax, $2 million in fact, which has put them in a position to properly finance its emergency medical service.
This year the city budgeted $91,500 for EMS. In addition, the Fire Department is budgeted for $58,000, and the police department has $318,000 with three full-time officers—one of those officers is a seasonal hire.
The city also entered into a temporary agreement with the Whittier Tunnel to provide nine hours per day of police supervision of the tunnel, assigning one officer and a car.
“The tunnel pays $46.56 per hour,” said Schoffield. “We’re currently working on a temporary contract. It’s up to the city council to choose to continue on a 30-day interim period. “It was done on a trial basis. I think it has potential. It does tie up an officer for nine hours a day, but we can recall him when needed.”
Schoffield said an officer present at the tunnel helps to manage traffic and keep the peace.
“If one person doesn’t want to wait for a light to change then it becomes a free-for-all,” he said.
Schoffield is receiving an annual salary of $57,200. He replaced Bob Haskell, who left a few months ago for another job.
Schoffield’s first priority was to get the city certified for basic life support and advanced life support ambulance service, which the city accomplished a month ago. The certificate was important because it allowed for the training process to begin for EMS volunteers.
Next Schoffield had to hire paramedics. He chose an Anchorage contractor, paying for two paramedics. During the summer season, one paramedic will be on duty at all times and a second paramedic will be on call.
The city is also utilizing its long-standing relationship with Anchorage and Girdwood Fire Departments for emergency responses; however, unlike in the past when service was provided for free, Schoffield is looking to work out a payment plan.
“I would expect that they are compensated,” Schoffield said. “When they do those runs, they can bill for the run. I think it’s a good idea to keep a relationship with them.”
A key to compensation, though, is for Girdwood, Anchorage and Whittier to come to a mutual aid agreement, but that hasn’t been finalized yet, said Schoffield.
However, the municipality of Anchorage is taking its own steps to financially assist smaller fire departments like Girdwood, which have to respond to a large volume of emergency calls within the municipal-wide service area.
First, a city ordinance was recently implemented, allowing for an additional $100 EMS transportation fee to be charged to non-residents of the municipality. This is especially helpful during the busy summer months when many tourists from outside the city require emergency services in the area.
“The other thing we’re about to do is increase an out of service area response fee,” said Michelle Weston, Deputy Chief of Administration for the Anchorage Fire Department. “So, when Girdwood, Anchorage or Chugiak respond outside the municipality, then we’ll be able to increase the fee.”
Weston said the fee amount has yet to be determined. She added that the out of area fees have not been increased in 10 years.
The money collected from the fees, she said, will go back into the service area to cover such overhead costs as EMS and fire training, supplies, and equipment maintenance.
As for Whittier, its public safety appears to be in strong financial standing with the influx of cash from the cruise ship tax. The community of about 165 year-round residents also has good equipment and two ambulances with less than 30,000 miles.
The greatest challenge, said Schoffield, for the city, will come this winter when volunteers may move elsewhere or simply loose interest, as has been the case in the past.
Currently there are 10 volunteers with six EMT’s in the process of completing their EMT 1 class and testing. All of the volunteers are certified as ETT’s, which is the starting level of a trained emergency responder.
“I think the winter will be a big challenge for us,” said Schoffield. “If we can keep the interest and training up, I think we can do it. We are building a bridge between the city and its volunteers. Without our volunteers our EMS squads will not be successful.”
He added that recruitment for volunteers will be ongoing all year.