EMS and the Fremont County Commissioners: A Little Story

By Carol Harper

Since I've been on vacation, I've been a bit behind on things re: the EMS situation, but yes...below is the most accurate story put out thus far by the media. Thank you, County 10! (I've gained a lot of clarity on a lot of things on this trip. It's amazing what a bit of R and R can do!)

https://county10.com/fremont-county-outlines-proposed-ems-partnership-with-cody-regional-health/

The county sure likes to point the finger at Priority/Frontier as the problem. No. They aren't. Regardless of their opinions about Priority, the truth is that the commissioners have never been actively a part of the EMS operations, and have no clue how the service is run.

Granted over the past 10 years, they really haven't had to, since corporate entities and outside interests have been doing it...but by being continually inactive and unaware, they have consistently failed to 'assess' the scene, and do the jobs their constituents pay them to do. They've been way too used to others doing the work, then criticize them, and sit back and decide where the money will go.

I've become very scenario-based in my thinking over the years, due to reading (literally) tens of thousands of crew reports. So here's a little story that can perhaps illustrate our current situation:

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Imagine someone slowly bleeding to death, and the county was the on-scene EMS crew. Their approach was to glance at patient now and then, wait around, wringing their hands, hemming and hawing, debating about what to do...

FCAG (Fremont County Association of Governments), JCFKS (Joint Committee for Funding Key Services), and RASEC (Regional Ambulance Service Evaluation Committee) enter the scene, come in and say "Hey, c'mon you guys, this patient's going to die. You need this, and this, and this...", and start providing the info and tools in order to work on the patient.

The county doesn't know what they heck they're doing, so they step back and let FCAG/RASEC gather the equipment and supplies necessary to treat the patient.

Priority is there, well aware of the situation, understand what the committees are trying to do, and ready to drive the ambulance to whatever location, they just need someone to get some decisions made so they can head to the hospital with the patient ASAP.

FCAG/RASEC continually work on the patient...then most everything comes into place, even to the point of packaging the patient up on the cot, ready to go, rolling them to the ambulance doors. Priority is still waiting at the wheel.

Wait, where's the County? Still back at the scene. Everyone's waiting for them...tick tock, time's a-wastin'. What are they doing? Smelling the flowers? Looking at the sky? Having coffee? Eating a snack? Sleeping? Coloring in their 'How to Balance A Budget' coloring book?

Enter the heroes: Our EMS crews. Now everyone's on board and on the same page...Priority/Frontier, FCAG, RASEC...and everyone's waiting around for the County. Tick tock. This patient is going to die. The slow bleed has now turned critical. Trails of blood are everywhere, the patient is grey...

Finally, the County appears out the fog at 11:55 PM: "We've got it! We going to pay these other folks we found who are going to take a little look at the patient now. They'll be here soon, but we really don't know when. Oh, and by the way, we gave ourselves a raise a while back for doing such a good job."

Now there are many bystanders gathering around, confused at what's going on, and asking questions. "What happened? Why hasn't someone done anything? The patient's all ready, waiting to go! Why is everyone standing around? Do something!"

"We can't. Thank your County Commissioners."