By Sarah Larimer
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Wisconsin)
Copyright 2006 Journal Sentinel Inc.
NEW BERLIN, Wis. — A late-night, weekend call for emergency medical assistance might soon be received by a full-time paramedic, not just an on-call responder.
The proposed 2007 city operating budget now includes additional Fire Department funding for a full-time paramedic staff that will respond to calls 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
With very little discussion, aldermen added $220,919 to the city operating budget to add three paramedics. Toward the end of a budget debate at its Tuesday meeting, the Common Council questioned Chief Ed Dobernig about the change. “Most of the aldermen that voted against it were concerned simply about the late arrival of the proposal, not on the merit,” said Ald. Bill Moore, one of four aldermen who voted to add the funds. “It seemed to me that the fire chief gave a good explanation, and I didn’t see any effort to revisit the issue. It seems to me that most, if not all, of the aldermen that had expressed concerns had their fears alleviated.”
The council voted to defer approval of the 2007 operating budget until its Nov. 28 meeting.
Dobernig said the funds would allow the department to hire three more staff members and improve service. When the city’s paramedic program was originally approved in August, Dobernig said, the state gave the city two years to set up a full-time operation. Right now, Dobernig said, members of the five-person paramedic staff work from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Residents rely on paid on-call paramedics at all other times.
“Since Aug. 1, we’ve responded to approximately 489 EMS calls alone in that short period of time,” Dobernig said. “Of those calls, 436 could have used paramedic-level service. We were only able to deliver that to 150 patients.”
He said the other patients received basic care at the scene.
The additional funds became available because the city no longer needed money that was earmarked to pay for increased health care costs, Dobernig said. Mayor Jack Chiovatero recently asked him where he could use additional funding.
Chiovatero said he supported the paramedic funding and didn’t expect much more discussion of it at future budget meetings.
“I think all the aldermen realize this is a great addition to the Fire Department,” Chiovatero said. “I think the only hesitation they have is the budget impact. I think they all agree this is something that’s needed.”
Aldermen. Paul Gallagher, Roger Hegeman and Ken Harenda voted against the proposal. Gallagher said that though he supported the idea, the proposal should have received more consideration before the council took action.
“We spend sometimes an hour talking about $200 for an insignificant expense, and here we pass $220,000 without a word being said,” Gallagher said.
Hegeman, who sits on the Ad Hoc Fire Department Committee, said he wanted to see more staffing options before he signed off on the proposal. He said he has wanted a full-time paramedic service for years but didn’t agree with the timing of the proposal and questioned the department’s proposed staff structure.
“There’s different ways of doing it,” Hegeman said. “Why can’t we have a discussion, like any other subject?”