The results of last week's rural ambulance service vote show very clearly that the solution to providing this service is still unsettled. With all 15 voting locations showing the "no" exceeding the "yes" votes it is time to start over.
The Gravette location voted almost 11 to one against the proposal while Bland Chapel and Bella Vista Church of Christ locations barely opposed the proposal. Those voting at the First Baptist Church in Pea Ridge opposed it by a four to one margin.
At the Quorum Court's Finance Committee meeting on Thursday night of last week, the committee members voted four to three to pay for rural services in the same amounts asked by each servicing city and proposed in the county budget.
This was in spite of the fact that there is no discussion of the signing of a contract with any city nor any indication if negotiations to finalize a contract are being conducted. The county judge, who apparently is doing the negotiating, did not attend the meeting, or if he was there, I did not see him.
We are back to square one where the county must now find a way to meet its "commitment" to pay the cities, and that effort may take priority over the necessary action of working on a meaningful solution.
It should be evident that the needs of various rural areas vary and a "one size fits all" solution is not appropriate -- in fact it may not even be a real solution for any area.
The Gravette area seems to be much more capable of working on their own solution than the Quorum Court was aware. And, I believe that Pea Ridge can find a solution to its problem through the leadership of the Pea Ridge mayor, the fire chief and the rural citizens who would be in, or are in, their service area.
It seems too much time was devoted to meeting the financial criteria of the cities rather than studying a map of the county and the areas needing service.
When I read the comments of the Highfill mayor concerning their need for four ambulances after an automobile accident, a lot of questions came to mind. He spoke of the quality of the service -- which has never been questioned.
No details of the needs of the injured persons were included nor did he say it occurred within the city limits or outside the city. There is no way every potential situation can be prepared for in an area as large as Benton County.
We can however, use some common sense in looking at the needs of Maysville (the northwest most corner) and Piney Point (the southeast most corner) and recognizing that heart attack victims are usually a single person where time is a factor and air-evac may be more realistic.
Preparing for that situation is much different than trying to get first aid to a person with a farm-related work accident.
Not all scary looking situations that really just require trained medical personnel require transportation to a medical facility. If you look at the number of life-threatening ambulance runs and compare that to the number of runs to accidents where no one is actually transported, you have two very different scenarios but they both show up as a "run" for the ambulance.
We must prepare for both certainly by preparing for the worst case and recognize that we are growing and tomorrow's needs must be part of the equation. But, we must be realistic about what we are trying to accomplish as we deal with it now.
The people of rural Benton County need ambulance service not formulas for subsidizing cities' services. They need the Quorum Court to be creative and utilize the existing fire services' facilities and personnel where, and if, feasible. They do not need a blank contract with open-ended taxes where the only evidence of creative thinking is from the people initiating the referendum on the ordinance the Quorum Court proposed.
Let's at least consider alternatives to a county-wide advanced life support option until we look at what we can afford and crawl, if need be, before we try to run a marathon.
It may take a few local Town Hall meetings, but I believe there are ways to initiate rural ambulance service across the county for less than $3 million.
•••
Editor's note: Leo Lynch is an award-winning columnist. He is a native of Benton County has deep roots in northwest Arkansas. He is a retired industrial engineer and former Justice of the Peace. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Editorial on 02/19/2014