By Leila Merrill
FireRescue1/EMS1 Staff
LEE COUNTY, Iowa — Lee County EMS has received 43 applications for nine EMS provider positions, the Fort Madison Daily Democrat reported this week.
Lee County supervisors recently decided to pay to train EMS new hires.
“This may be a model we need to consider going forward when you think about the positions they tried to hire for before and had little interest,” Supervisor Garry Seyb Jr. said.
Job applicants also could be coming from a recently closed hospital.
The leaders are also discussing tax levy proposal of up to 75 cents per $1,000 property valuation on a ballot as soon as March 2023.
The levy would help fund the county-run service that has had an additional $1 million in expenses since the hospital’s closure. These costs are for the nine additional EMS employees; another vehicle to transport patients to nearby towns; $70,000 to acquire property at 1514 Blondeau St. and a parcel at 25. and N. 16th St. near the current EMS headquarters in Keokuk; and construction and renovation costs of the enhanced Keokuk facility.