Paramedic hiring delay sought (3/16/04)

The director of the county’s ambulance service says hiring a 13th full-time employee to serve as a paramedic could actually be a break-even proposition.

But Jay Emergency Medical Service director Teresa Foster-Geesaman told Jay County Commissioners Monday that she would like to wait until August to hire the additional staff member.

Foster-Geesaman received the consensus approval of Commissioners Milo Miller, Mike Leonhard and Gary Theurer to add the employee.

But she said she would like to hold the position for a local resident who is currently certified as an emergency medical technician and attending paramedic training. The employee is working as a reserve for JEMS and will have the cost of the paramedic training reimbursed by the county if he agrees to work for the county for three years following his certification.

Foster-Geesaman, who as director still covers one 24-hour duty shift per week, said there has been a shortfall of JEMS employees since she was named director. One JEMS paramedic also is not working due to a work-related injury, making the scheduling even more complicated, Foster-Geesaman said.

She said Monday that because many of the open slots are being filled by reserves who are making overtime, the only additional cost to hiring a full-time paramedic will be for benefits and Social Security.

“It’s been a struggle (to fill out the work schedule). We pay a lot of overtime,” Foster-Geesaman said.

Also Monday, the commissioners and Foster-Geesaman discussed a JEMS worker who is running for Jay County coroner.

The commissioners and Foster-Geesaman agreed they did not believe there would be any complications if Paulette Wagner, who is running as a Republican against Democrat Mark Barnett, is elected.

Foster-Geesaman said that Wagner would be expected to arrange for deputy coroners to handle calls during her JEMS duty and call shifts.

Earlier Monday, the commissioners and county engineer Dan Watson discussed a possible alternative to chip-and-sealing the county’s stone roads.

The commissioners attended road school last week at Purdue University in Lafayette, and Theurer said he was interested in a calcium chloride product he saw there that was used for dust control.

The product would cost about $2,500 to $2,800 per mile to apply, and the stone roads could be graded during the summer without making the dust control ineffective.

Theurer said that because chip-and-seal conversion breaks up quickly in many areas of the county, a county-funded dust control program could be a better option.

Watson said that the calcium chloride is tough on equipment and that he would recommend that the county hire a company to apply the product.[[In-content Ad]]