Waurika News-Democrat
WAURIKA, Okla. — After several months of discussion, members of the Waurika Emergency Medical Services District Board have come up with an incentive plan they hope will attract new prospects to the ambulance service.
A shortage of emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and emergency medical responders (EMRs or first responders) became a topic during the winter, when Sarah Ray told members of the district board the Ryan operation was under-staffed.
Since then, the director of the Waurika Volunteer Ambulance Service and district board members have sifted through proposals to fashion an incentive policy that will mean more income for current WVAS staff and encourage people to take the EMT and EMR training needed to join the staff.
During the EMS District Board’s regular meeting for June, board members and Ray outlined a plan that involves bonuses for employees based on an evaluation Ray will conduct every six months.
Crafting the evaluation parameters was the main topic in the meeting at City Hall. Ray presented the evaluation form she has used in the past and board members made suggestions on how to refine the form.
Essentially, Board President Dr. Chad Williams noted, the list of evaluation categories “would help Sarah in doing evaluations. If an employee reaches a certain number on the evaluation scale, it would be the basis for receiving a bonus.”
Board members acknowledged evaluations would be a combination of objective and subjective criteria.
“The evaluation can’t just all be numbers, because (in some evaluation categories) if an employee is poor in categories like performance, Sarah would consider that in a person being eligible for a bonus,” Williams pointed out.
Board member Jeremy Wilson agreed, adding, “Certain categories would be weighed more than others.” He also felt there needed to be some “tweaking” on the number of categories, noting, “Some of the categories seem to over-lap.”
Board members agreed Ray should continue to refine the evaluation form, but they also voted unanimously to approve the bonus plan. In the future, employees will receive a $50 bonus for reaching a certain standard on the six-month evaluations.
Increasing paging time has also been discussed as an incentive to attract new employees. The board decided to continue to paying 50 cents for each hour of paging time, but left the door open to a possible increase in the future.
In other action, the board approved Ray’s request to obtain a cardiac monitor system for EMS 1 ambulance and an ETCO2 addition for the cardiac monitoring system in EMS 3 ambulance.
Ray noted the equipment would bring the WVAS into compliance with new protocols approved by the state EMS board. In requesting a total of about $12,000, Ray said part of the expense would be for training cost.
Ray also mentioned the possibility of obtaining a grant that could assist with the expense, and the board voted unanimously to approve the request.
The board also voted unanimously to approve Treasure Rachel Gallaher’s report for the month of May, which showed a beginning balance of $44,437.20 and an ending balance of $46,840.10. It reflected $5,361.36 in revenue and $2,868.46 in expenses.
The following claims were unanimously approved: $100 to EMS Board Attorney William Eakin; and $1,438 to the City of Waurika for paging time.
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