County commissioners will ask Allen County Regional Hospital to develop a plan to deal with snow and ice on its parking lot.
Iola and the county are committed to keeping roads leading to the hospital — Kentucky and Oregon — open when winter weather strikes. Bill King, director of Public Works, also said he would ensure access to the emergency room entrance. But, he isn’t keen on dealing with the parking lot.
He noted county snow-removal equipment was large, designed to deal with roads, and that it would be difficult for graders and trucks to negotiate in the confined space.
“We also have more than 1,000 miles of roads that we have to keep open when it snows or ice becomes a problem,” King said.
The discussion arose from a weekend call King received from a 911 operator, forwarding a request from the hospital that ice on the parking lot needed to be treated.
“We did what we could, but it’s $500 out of my budget,” King said, and also that he was concerned spreading pea rock and salt on the icy lot might lead to complaints from vehicle owners. When the mix is scattered on ice from a dump truck, it’s difficult to control where the rock bounces.
Commissioners directed County Counselor Alan Weber to act as the county’s liaison in developing a snow-removal plan at the hospital, just southwest of the intersection of Oregon and Kentucky roads.
Hospital officials had contracted for snow removal with the older facility in east Iola. No plan was in place when the back-to-back winter storms hit, an oversight on the hospital’s part, Commissioner Dick Works said.
TERRY CALL, who does billing for ambulance runs, told commissioners 220 runs were made in the first full month of Iola being in charge of countywide service.
That compares to 106 made by ambulances operated by the county in January 2013.
He said billings totaled $162,047 in January and $47,338 had been paid; last year’s numbers were $93,100 and $53,953.
Of the 220 runs this January, 89 involved advanced life support, requiring procedures and medication while a patient is being transported. Basic life support, those without medication, totaled 72.
That left 59 “dry” runs, those answered but without transport. They are for such things as lift assist, when someone has fallen and is having difficulty getting up.
Call said 38 transfers were made to metropolitan hospitals, including nine by ambulances stationed in Iola. He said the first two transfers in any day were made by ambulances at Humboldt and Moran, with the third done by an Iola-based ambulance.
The discrepancy in the total for the three stations comes from the first, second and third routine restarting at midnight each day. For example, if two transfers occurred on consecutive days, all four would be done by Humboldt and Moran ambulances.
