Wash. Commissioners Approve EMT Transport Program

June 07--A six-month pilot program permitting EMTs to transport patients in Fire District 13 is underway, thanks to a resolution passed Monday by the Board of County Commissioners.

According to Mark Raaka, director of Skagit County's Emergency Medical Services office, District 13 staff have been gearing up for the change for months. EMTs will be allowed to transport patients beginning today.

Fire District 13 covers a portion of western Skagit County, including the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community.

Raaka said paramedics from the Anacortes Fire Department will still be sent on every call, and they will make the determination on whether the patient can be transported by an EMT.

The purpose of this program is to let EMTs transport patients who don't need the advanced expertise of paramedics, Raaka said.

Each transport will be studied to assess patient care and the impact on the availability of paramedic-staffed ambulances.

At the Monday commissioners meeting, Commissioner Ken Dahlstedt said the ongoing Sedro-Woolley pilot program, which started about a year ago, still has less than 100 transports by EMTs.

The Central Valley Ambulance Authority, which provides ambulances for most of the county, intended EMT transports to be used only when paramedics aren't immediately available to transport, which wasn't Raaka's intent for the Sedro-Woolley program.

"We didn't initially define (the program)," Raaka said. "We didn't agree on what it meant."

The Sedro-Woolley pilot program was never given a time frame in which it would run, but Raaka said he met with Central Valley Ambulance Authority Director Kirk Hale later Monday to discuss an end date and changes in parameters to make it look more like the District 13 program.

Hale said more discussion needs to take place with his paramedics' union before changes are made to the program.

-- Reporter Brandon Stone: bstone@skagitpublishing.com, 360-416-2112, Twitter: @Brandon_SVH

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