+HSSQHU*D]HWWH7LPHV+HSSQHU2UHJRQ Wednesday, February 28, 2024 -- NINE
Tension continues over county ambulance services
-Continued from PAGE ONE
days of limbo on ambulance
services is not ‘soon,’” said
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lives in the unincorporated
part of Morrow County.
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the south of Morrow Coun-
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who has been with the Mor-
row County Health District
for more than 20 years with
both the quick response
team and the ambulance,
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with the health district.
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advised by people who are
not from Morrow County
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WKH FRXQW\¶V HPHUJHQF\
medical services work on a
daily basis.
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time that has been allowed
to be wasted on backup
plans when this valuable
time could have been spent
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County Health District to
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that is best for the residents
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spend on EMS services and
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6WXDUW'LFNRI,UULJRQ
DOHDGHULQWKHUHFDOOH൵RUW
addressed his comments to
Morrow County Adminis-
trator Matthew Jensen, say-
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the BOC for the past year,
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“No, it’s a waste of
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hostile takeover.”
“You inherited a won-
derful system that worked
for nearly 30 years,” he
added. “You came in and
you ruined what these won-
derful people had put to-
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honest about this.”
Ray Akers of Boardman
waved a folder, presumably
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when he addressed the com-
missioners. “If we have to
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At the same time, he
told the commissioners they
should ask for Jensen’s res-
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“Because you’re not
wanted. You’re not wanted;
you created this problem,”
he told Jensen, who took
over as county administra-
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“Let’s keep this civil,”
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Akers to keep to the issues.
“Don’t attack people.”
“This isn’t an attack,”
Akers responded. “You’ve
attacked us. You’ve at-
tacked our healthcare.
“You forced our hand,
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that, despite public testi-
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had been made to reach out
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works with the Community
Health Improvement Part-
nership (CHIP) of Morrow
County, which is comprised
of more than 25 multi-disci-
plinary partners within the
county.
“These conversations
would have provided vital
and appropriately timely
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the past year for you to
make informed decisions,”
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with local expertise in the
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provision of care for fron-
tier and rural areas.”
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Rescue,” she added, “but
this issue transcends one
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Kirsten Espinola of
Ione, who works for the
health district, said it
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two-year contract if they
truly intend to work with
MCHD.
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you want your families,
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in this community, to have
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okay,” Espinola said.
MCHD Funding Re-
quest
At the same time, the
Morrow County Health
District approached the
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in American Rescue Plan
Act (ARPA) funds.
0RUURZ &RXQW\ )L-
nance Director Kevin Ince
said the health district had
VXEPLWWHG WKH IXQGLQJ UH-
quest to Morrow County to
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to the economic impacts of
COVID-19. Ince told the
commissioners that county
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the request and that, based
on the discussion in that
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the ARPA State and Local
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)5) IXQGV
MCHD Chief Oper-
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Mahoney asked the com-
missioners to set aside any
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medical services and con-
sider the request on its own
merits.
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request was for a primary
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subsidy for post-COVID
fiscal recovery. Mahoney
said the district’s state and
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ceased last year, but MCHD
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sitions to cover four clinics
instead of two, or to make
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we do business,” she said.
Mahoney also said the
district has been on a spend-
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order to operate $600,000
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At the same time, she
said, MCHD has been hard
hit by areas out of their con-
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Some costs have doubled
since pre-COVID. That has
left the district with a $2
million shortfall.
“So we’re 1.6 down
overall for six months of
the year,” she told the com-
missioners. “Our cost report
last year came in a million
WZRVRWKHUHZLOOEHDVL]H-
able takeout of the that to
that bottom line, but it will
not eradicate all of it.”
Mahoney added that
the health district had nev-
er approached the coun-
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time there and pointed out
that, while it seemed like a
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combined dollar amount,
$200,000 for the hospital
and each of the three clin-
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compared to other amounts
already funded under the
SURJUDP
Mahoney also said fa-
cilities and service lines are
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structure the way it delivers
care post-COVID.
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lot of…self-service health.
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RQ WKH SKRQH DW PLGQLJKW
for 20 bucks instead of
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said, “with a physician that
cost twice what it did pre-
COVID.”
“This is totally sepa-
rate from the ambulance,”
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healthy health district.”
Morrow County Com-
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ed that a lot of the district’s
problems seemed to stem
from the rise of telehealth
and provider expenses.
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and-mortar primary care
services is down across the
country.
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health, but there’s a lot of
other, expanded telehealth
that’s available that wasn’t
there pre-COVID,” she
said. “And people are repri-
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it.”
Mahoney said MCHD
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year.
“Specialists can run
a business on cash and
not have any staff in the
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telehealth services,” said
Mahoney. “In rural America
where you have a limited
populace, where you’re
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provide services and be
open, it literally is very
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“This has not been
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now,’” she added. “It’s
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time.”
:HQKRO] KRZHYHU
questioned that based on
what he said he had seen in
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website.
“And I see, since 2019,
your net position has in-
creased every year, and in
your audit, your auditors
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to look at the overall health
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up for the past several years.
“So, you know, when
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from brick and mortar, your
financials don’t bear that
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“Not your audited fi-
nancial statements that are
on your website,” he said
when Mahoney objected.
“Your audited statements
don’t show that you’re hav-
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He did admit that
the December financials
showed that income had
one down year-to-date, but
questioned whether it had
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the past six months.
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we also want to know, is
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he said. “Where will we
be in six months with the
"´
Mahoney replied that
MCHD was aware it would
only be a one-time contri-
bution but that the district
also has to plan ahead. She
also pointed out that the
increase in income didn’t
show the whole story when
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increases, and that district
income is $2 million below
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“But you said that it’s
because of telehealth. And
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on for more than a year,”
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Sykes asked Mahoney
what the health district’s
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She replied that MCHD is
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services, but that she wasn’t
ready to make a public
statement on the plan for
next year.
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The conversation took
a contentious turn when
Sykes asked if the ambu-
lance service was really a
money loser and whether
that should be considered
in MCHD’s plans.
“Oh my God. What if
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we’d ask for in service con-
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Mahoney said that,
since the county started
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MCHD personnel costs
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because none of their per-
sonnel want to work in
Boardman.
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We pay overtime to people
that work elsewhere to pick
up shifts there because it’s
so…it’s a hostile place
to work,” Mahoney said.
“We’ve had to cut other
places in order to meet this
because of the BOC’s deci-
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people’s jobs clear back in
April. Ten months.”
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to try to hold this money
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“No, no, no, no,” put
in Sykes. “It’s completely
separate. But you put your
position out there, and so
I think we should have a
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there. We would like the
health district to continue.
We would like you not to
stop service on the twelfth.
Would like you to keep do-
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Health and then we can ne-
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with you.
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That’s what we want. We
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instability,” he added.
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Mahoney. “You need to
keep these separate.”
It took a few minutes
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topic, and the atmosphere
in the room remained tense
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his concerns. He said a lot
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about transparency, but he
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detailed accounts payable
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website.
“I’ll use as an example,
we list Morrow County
Grain Growers as a vendor,
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two 31 wiper blades for
this dollar amount, and it’s
built into this department,”
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health district provide an
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Mahoney replied that
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that detailed, but that they
could provide the informa-
tion by public request.
“So, would the health
GLVWULFW EH ZLOOLQJ WR SUR-
vide that for 36 months and
then, you know, we can see
where your dollars have
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“What exactly are you
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JHU"´DVNHG0DKRQH\
“To see that the expens-
es are where you say they
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our work that’s been done
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honey.
“Is there a reason you
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Sykes asked.
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that we’ve been misappro-
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Mahoney said the
county had never asked
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request.
“If you want to look at
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standpoint, then make a
public records request. That
shouldn’t be tied to this
ARPA request,” she said.
:HQKRO]VDLGKHXQGHU-
stood people had done that
and that records weren’t
available or would cost
$250. Mahoney replied that
the health district is allowed
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larly available.
Morrow County Com-
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considered a lump sum or if
it was certain that $200,000
would be expended to each
location. Mahoney said the
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to the four locations.
Sykes made a motion to
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on the health district sup-
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but the motion died for lack
RIDVHFRQG'UDJRPRYHG
to table the request until the
county receives an account
payable summary from the
health district. The motion
passed unanimously.
Interim Ambulance
Services
The tension in the air
didn’t clear with the next
LWHPRQWKHDJHQGDDV-HQ-
sen presented a draft con-
tract for interim ambulance
services with Boardman
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Jensen said that, while
the county is in discus-
sions with Morrow County
Health District, it is still
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in case they fail to come
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the health district’s 90-day
deadline expires.
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part of it, the contract for
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Jensen said.
Jensen said he was not
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natures. The contract would
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district had scheduled last
:HGQHVGD\HYHQLQJ
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interim ambulance response
for up to 90 days, with an
additional 90-day extension
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has four Advanced Life
Support-capable ambulanc-
es and says it is capable
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VWD൶QJ
To fully cover the coun-
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need access to three addi-
tional ambulances. Since
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%)5'DVNHGWKDWWKHFRXQ-
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short-term lease.
Tw o a m b u l a n c e s
would be stationed in each
of the three planned ASA
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and South County—with
one staffed for response
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“Some people are un-
der the illusion that all the
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That’s not the case,” said
Jensen.
Possible South County
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ORFDWLRQLQ/H[LQJWRQ
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County Health District on
possible solutions. And we
DUH DZDLWLQJ ZRUG IURP
OHA on the ASA and we’ll
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as we receive word on that,”
Jensen said. “So the con-
tract is set up for up to 90
days, to expire as soon as
we have an opportunity to
set up and implement the
new ASA.
“And so this is a con-
WLQJHQF\ SODQ DQG ZLOO
provide ambulance service
WKURXJKRXWWKHFRXQW\´KH
added.
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WUDFW%)5'ZRXOGFKDUJH
$3,975 per day for proposed
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percent administrative fee
for billed reimbursements.
The county will pay for the
three leased AMR ambu-
lances and will receive the
billed reimbursement, mi-
nus the administrative fee,
for all calls in the Northeast
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%)5'ZRXOGUHWDLQELOODEOH
reimbursement for North
ASA (Boardman) calls.
The BOC voted unan-
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WKHFRQWUDFWLI%)5'PDGH
QRFKDQJHV
After another comment
from the audience, Sykes
asked the people in the
room to be respectful.
“A lot of you, you’re
on city councils, and I don’t
think you appreciate the
SXEOLF PDNLQJ FRPPHQWV
WKURXJKRXW\RXUPHHWLQJ´
KH VDLG ³:H¶YH JRW FLW\
council people here, we’ve
JRW KHDOWK GLVWULFW ERDUG
members and work peo-
ple, and I don’t think you
DSSUHFLDWH SHRSOH \HOOLQJ
from the audience at you. I
would ask you to please not
do that. Please.”
Births
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Waites and DuBrys
welcome new baby
Pheobe Ann Waite
2Q )HEUXDU\ WK
2024, Leo Waite and Steph-
any DuBry of Provo, Utah,
joyfully welcomed baby
Pheobe Ann Waite into their
IDPLO\ :HLJKLQJ OEV
DQG PHDVXULQJ LQFKHV
this addition is a bundle of
joy for the proud parents.
Leo’s parents, Deiter and
%ULGJHW :DLWH DQG 6WHSK-
any’s parents, Chet and
Starla DuBry, are overjoyed
with the arrival of their new
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