(,*+7+HSSQHU*D]HWWH7LPHV+HSSQHU2UHJRQWednesday, December 27, 2023
Board of Commissioners Meeting 0RUURZ&RXQW\6KHUL൵V2൶FH
parties previously interest- an update for ambulance
MCHD personnel—about ed in providing ambulance service every commission swears in two new deputies
eight out of 10 positions.
services. The draft was then
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“This is excellent for
provider peer-review, case-
by-case incidents,” said
Jensen. “In an ASA where
we would potentially have
service agreements with
providers, we expect that
to happen under the provid-
ers, and then the providers
report the generalities up to
this advisory committee.”
If the proposed plan is
adopted, the EMS Advi-
sory Committee would be
appointed by the board of
commissioners and would
review the overall per-
formance of ambulance
services, reconcile system
performance issues, hear
and reconcile issues be-
tween providers, consider
requests for new providers,
and review the ASA every
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“We’re looking at this
committee to be more of, if
there’s multiple or a single
provider, how do we re-
solve system performance
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One change, a major
bone of contention, es-
tablishes three ambulance
service areas within the
county to provide the op-
tion of multiple ambulance
service providers. Jensen
said the county is looking
at a general division of the
Boardman area, Irrigon
area, and South County.
“This is not unheard
of, and it’s not necessarily
saying that we’re going to
divide the county into three
providers,” Jensen said.
“It just says we have this
option based on population.
“Nowhere in this draft
does it designate the provid-
er,” he added. “There has
been no decision to undo
or dismantle the ambulance
services of right now.”
Jensen said he believed
the three areas reflected
MCHD’s current setup,
which generally works.
“However, if there is
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the logistical opportunity
for a provider to come in,
we need to be able to review
that independently, with an
independent recommenda-
tion to the county,” he said.
He added that assump-
tions that Boardman Fire
would be a provider were
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not received a proposal
from Boardman Fire.
“My apologies, chief,”
he addressed Hughes. “I
don’t even know if you’re
capable because I have not
seen anything.”
Jensen also said that
Irrigon, for instance, is
growing, and there might
be a time when that city or
other communities in the
county want to provide their
own ambulance services.
“We should be able to
allow them to break free,”
he said.
He also pointed out that
a committee controlled by
an interested party such as a
provider could create issues
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of transparency.
“I’m not making those
charges against the health
district, but it creates the
window of opportunity for
them,” he added. “When
you put it as an independent
advisory committee with
the commission approving
or disapproving, you pro-
vide a layer of transparency
and accountability.”
The new plan also up-
dates technical require-
ments to refer to OHA and
Oregon Revised Statutes
standards rather than specif-
ic details that may become
outdated.
Jensen said the county
had already gone through
the development of the
draft, including input from
updated and submitted to
the OHA for review.
Future steps will in-
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public hearing, and possible
adoption of the ASA by the
board of commissioners.
Following the adop-
tion of the ASA plan, the
county will advertise for
ambulance providers and
designate initial providers.
Jensen said the county
is looking at several options
for determining initial pro-
viders, all of which have
pros and cons. Options
include having the board
of commissioners make
the determination, having
the new EMS Advisory
Committee make a recom-
mendation, or having an
ad-hoc committee make the
recommendation.
He said having the
BOC make the decision
would follow statutory
guidelines and be the quick-
est solution, but that the
commissioners don’t have
expertise in ambulance
services and it might overly
expose EMS services to a
potential political decision.
If the EMS committee
were to make a recommen-
dation, on the other hand,
having providers on the
committee might create
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cision-making.
An ad-hoc committee
would be a small group
of industry experts who
would hopefully be impar-
tial in recommending an
initial provider and service
agreement. However, such
a committee is not currently
outlined in the ASA, and
the determination of the
committee could also be
seen as politically slanted.
The Next 90 Days
Jensen said the county’s
original consideration had
been to work with the health
district to provide continu-
ing ambulance services
during the implementation
of the new ASA. However,
with MCHD’s 90-day no-
tice to discontinue service,
Morrow County will need
to have an alternate plan in
place by Tuesday, March
12, 2024. Jensen called
MCHD’s decision “regret-
table.”
“They say, ‘We need a
service agreement before
we can agree to an ambu-
lance service plan.’ I’m
saying, I can’t give you a
service agreement until we
have an ambulance service
plan,” said Jensen. “So it’s
a chicken and egg kind of
conversation.”
The 90-day timeframe
leaves the county with a
tight timeline and limited
options. Jensen said they
will explore all options
as necessary, including
continued discussion with
MCHD.
“They’ve expressed
that desire. We’ll be ex-
ploring that,” he said. “We
will be in touch with them
and want to work with them
because they are a strategic
partner on this and other
things and they deserve that
consideration as more or
less our incumbent.”
Barring that, the county
might seek new providers
to assume ambulance ser-
vices, interim operations
through agreements with
neighboring providers,
interim operations under
county management or a
combination of those.
Jensen admitted that
the county didn’t yet have
a plan because the health
district’s decision was un-
expected. However, he
stressed that ambulance
services would continue in
all three areas regardless.
“We want to engage in
a very participatory pro-
gram, and I will be having
meeting as we go through
this process,” he said.
He also said he chal-
lenged comments that ac-
cused the county of lack of
transparency.
“There are certain
things in government that
the elected bodies need to
do, and it’s on our public
schedule. That’s not a lack
of transparency,” Jensen
said. “That means our resi-
dents need to participate in
the government process and
come to the meetings and be
informed and participate.”
“I know this is change,”
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to change, but we feel like Nick Berg on the right and Patrol Deputy Ryan Freeland. - Contributed Photo
this is a change to get us
into compliance with stat-
utory requirements and that
we can go forward and have
a good relationship with
providers.”
Jensen said he plans
to have updates and infor-
mation on the ASA on the
county website. The next
meeting of the Morrow
County Board of Commis-
sioners is scheduled for 9
a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 3,
in Heppner.
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