Western Lane Ambulance District (WLAD)
Announces Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
Week May 15-21 2016, with the following
reasons to celebrate:
• WLAD provides dedicated Paramedics, EMT-I's and administrative staff
whose number 1 priority is delivering excellent patient care.
• WLAD offers a Community Wide Public Education Program including
CPR classes, Automatic External Defi brillator (AED's) Distribution and
Training Program, SAFEKIDS, and the TLC Hospice Care Program.
• LIFEMED Patient Membership Program, providing our patients fi nancial
coverage for out of pocket Emergency Ambulance Services.
• The majority of WLAD Paramedics are trained as Critical Care Paramedics,
allowing for a higher level of Mobile Intensive Care (MICU) Transport
capabilities.
• WLAD operates at a tax base of 0.3198 cents per 1000 and at a 5 year
operating levy of 0.45 cents per 1000 - which is one of the lowest tax rates
for a Public Emergency Services agency in Oregon.
• One of the very few Public EMS agencies in the State of Oregon, which
allows every dollar spent to go strictly to EMS services as well as State
of the Art ambulances, top level medical equipment, medications, and
training.
• Covering an Ambulance District of about 900 square miles with various
terrains such as coastal, dunes swarming with ATV riders, metro and
rural regions and responding to over 3000 calls annually including MICU
transports to specialty care hospitals such as River Bend in Springfi eld,
and OHSU and Legacy Emmanuel in Portland.
It has been my pleasure to serve
as the Interim Director for
WLAD for the past 15 months
as well as integrating into the
community of the Florence
area. Building on the proud and
strong history of WLAD the
organization has continued to
actively pursue the sworn oath
of providing our area residents
with the highest standard of
EMS services. My time in the
community and with WLAD,
based on 35 years working
in the emergency field, has
confirmed that WLAD provides
on of the best EMS systems in
the state of Oregon and beyond.
The District is staffed
with full time and part time
Paramedics and EMT’s who
provide advanced life support,
critical care services and
medical transports to our
constituents throughout the
approximate 900 square miles of
service area. WLAD maintains a
balance of three basic resources
needed to carry our its mission:
people, equipment and our facility that meets
the current and future needs of the District is of
primary concern. These assets are necessary to
provide the service that the public expects and
must be maintained and replaced as needed.
The people who work for WLAD are
dedicated, highly trained and equipped with the
latest technical equipment to meet this challenge
and work tirelessly providing the level of service
that is expected by the residents who live within
the service are of WLAD.
In March, the Board of Directors
approved a 3 to 5 year strategic plan following
the vital and important input from citizen and
internal groups that will guide our organizational
goals and objectives over the next couple years.
While we continue to face some challenges we
low reimbursements from Medicare and other
insurance carriers for ambulance transports,
we want to thank all of our citizens for the
needed tax support which assures that your EMS
services are able to meet the growing demands
for our area. As our call volumes continue to
grow we have been able to add part-time staffing
that allows WLAD the ability of staffing 3
ambulances during our peak activity times. This
increase in staffing helps assure that a crew is
ready and available to respond without delay to
the next request for help.
We continue to train our paramedics
to the highest level of care for 9-1-1 responses
and inner facility transfers to regional hospitals
for specialty care that is needed by or patients.
We continue to provide preventative education
to our residents and work with our medical and
emergency responders to efficiently integrate the
health needs of our community.
Again, I want to thank the community,
the Board of Directors and all of the members of
WLAD for the support in WLAD’s competency
of meeting our Mission Statement “ To provide
quick, efficient, professional emergency medical
services, transport and community education
with the highest standard of excellence”.
Sincerely,
Brian Burright, Interim Manager
Western Lane Ambulance District.
CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK
National
Emergency Medical
Services Week
May 15-21
A note from
the director:
Message from the Board President:
Winner of 7 State of Oregon
Awards for Outstanding
Service and Excellence.
e
t
u
l
a
S t o
The Future of Western Lane Ambulance District
The board of directors of Western Lane
Ambulance District considers to be one of
the finest emergency medical response teams
anywhere. We intend to continue to deliver our
high standard of care in a timely manner to the
people of our district.
Our District faces several challenges in the near
future. Our call volume continues to increase as
our population both grows and ages. In each of the
last two years we exceed 3,000 calls, a volume that
was almost twice the call volume we had in the
late 1990’s when our tax base rate was set. At the
same time we face ever declining reimbursements
from insurance, Medicare and Medicaid.
We must continue to operate efficiently and
effectively. One way we do this is by hiring and
retaining quality employees, those that know their
jobs, and know the area. We will also continue
to find ways to partner with Siuslaw Valley Fire
and Rescue in both training and in call response.
We will also continue to maintain quality, fully
functioning up to date equipment to be used in
the treatment and transport of our patients.
Regardless of the challenges we face, it is the
mission of Western Lane Ambulance District
to continue to “provide professional emergency
services, transport, and community education
with the highest standards of excellence”.
Sincerely,
Mike Webb, Board President
Western Lane Ambulance District
Letter from Matt Danigelis, MD
I have been an emergency physician in Flor-
ence since 2003. Working in the emergency de-
partment, I have had numerous opportunities to
observe the EMTs and paramedics of Western
Lane Ambulance District. These providers have
consistently demonstrated competence, effi -
ciency, and a caring empathetic approach. These
qualities have been very effective in alleviating
much of the anxiety and concerns that patients
under their care often have.
In 2008, I became the medical director of
WLAD. In this role, I have witnessed the dedi-
cation of the ambulance crew, whether in main-
taining quality assurance/quality improvement
measures, community education, or in pursuing
a higher lever of training. Florence has a large
retirement community and, as such, its residents
often have a medical complexity that belies the
small size of the town. Many of the patients
served by the district are critically ill and will
eventually require transfer to a facility with more
specialty services. Several of the paramedics at
WLAD have become critical care certifi ed. This
certifi cation requires intensive training in the
evaluation and treatment of the most seriously ill
patients. Having paramedics with these skills has
been invaluable in best serving the needs of the
district.
Western Lane Ambulance District has a
knowledgeable, committed, and compassionate
group of EMTs and paramedics. It has been my
honor and privilege to serve as their medical di-
rector.
Sincerely,
Matt Danigelis, MD