Copyright 2006 Madison Newspapers, Inc.
By CLIFF MILLER
The Capital Times
COTTAGE GROVE, Wis. — Leaders of nearly a dozen local governments or emergency medical services in eastern Dane County are talking about combining separate EMS units into a regional system.
Some officials believe the result could be higher-level emergency service at lower cost to taxpayers in participating communities.
In a joint statement to The Capital Times, seven officials said they “are exploring the possibility of creating a regionalized approach to the delivery of emergency medical services ... in order to provide quality and timely advanced life support and basic life support services.”
Cottage Grove Village President Ken Dahl said it may be possible to provide higher-level services, up to and including paramedics, at lower cost per patient or service call.
He said Madison manages emergency service with about half as many ambulances per resident as the total operated by other Dane County communities. The populations of Madison and the rest of the county are about equal.
He said this suggests that services could be provided outside Madison less expensively if communities did a better job of cooperating and sharing.
Dahl was not among officials signing the joint statement but he has met with them. They are Jeff Dostalek, McFarland EMS director; Jon Englehart, Maple Bluff fire and EMS representative; Bob Van Etten, Monona fire chief; David Bloom, town of Madison-Oregon area fire and EMS chief; Glenn Linzmeier, Blooming Grove town fire chief; Michael Wolf, Blooming Grove administrator; and Jess Robinson, Deer Grove EMS chief.
They said communities expressing interest in the regional approach include Blooming Grove, the towns and villages of Cottage Grove and Deerfield, the towns of Madison and Pleasant Springs, Maple Bluff, McFarland and Monona.
“Other adjoining municipalities will be considering their involvement in the next few weeks,” the statement continued.
Before decisions can be made on when or how it could be put into action, a plan needs to be drafted and shared with interested local officials. This could be done late this summer, the officials said.
They envision a few communities testing the concept and if it works they said a full-scale regional system could follow.
Dahl said if providing equal or better service can be achieved while saving 10 percent or 15 percent of costs it would be worth the change.