JEMS troika

The chemistry couldn’t be better.

When the notion that three people could team up to lead and manage Jay Emergency Medical Service, it was a light-hearted suggestion, almost a throwaway line.

But the more Emily Anderson, Gary Barnett and John McFarland thought about it, the more sense it seemed to make.

Even before the departure of former JEMS director Eric Moore in the fall, the three of them had taken on additional responsibilities.

“We were already in supervisory roles,” said Barnett.

Plus there was the fact that they knew one another, got along and had some essential chemistry.

“These guys came to me and said, ‘Do we really need a director?’” recalled Jay County Hospital’s director of emergency services Leslie Peterson. Even though she could think of no equivalent management structure at any other equivalent agency, she thought it could work.

And — so far at least — it seems that it has.

“They do 99 percent of it,” said Peterson, who provides direction and liaison with the hospital. “They only come to me when there’s something they can’t handle.”

To make it work, all three will tell you, communication, cooperation and consensus are essential.

“We have a rule for the three of us,” said McFarland, that when it comes to decision-making it’s either 2-1 or unanimous. “There’s a lot of group texts. … If it’s not in policy, we don’t make a decision without the three of us,” he added, referring to a hefty three-ring binder of county government policies.

Each of the three focuses on special areas of responsibility.

Barnett is lead supervisor, payroll coordinator, coordinator of accounts payable and claims, and is in charge of fleet maintenance and management. Now an Advanced EMT, he started as a part-time employee of JEMS in 1993 and has been full-time since 1996.

Anderson, a paramedic who has worked for JEMS for three years and is a lifelong Jay County resident, manages materials and supplies, coordinates staffing and scheduling, manages chart audits and run expectations, and serves as the contact with AccuMed, the Michigan firm hired last year to handle billing and collections for JEMS.

McFarland is training officer, manages financial reports and deposits, coordinates human resources issues and public relations, and serves as contact with the hospital emergency room.

He joined JEMS as a paramedic in 2012 after a stint in Terre Haute and time in uniform in the U.S. Coast Guard.

And with all three working different hours, communication comes with a premium.

“When the commissioners pulled me out of the 24-hour rotation, I now get to see these two every day,” said McFarland, who is getting ready to launch an emergency responder training course at John Jay Center for Learning. (See related story.)

“I’m getting my 48 hours, but it comes at all hours on the clock. I’m more liquid,” he said.

Barnett agrees.

“With John being so flexible, it’s a tremendous asset,” he said.

“Oh, yeah,” added Anderson.

“Whenever one of us gets overwhelmed, the others step in,” said McFarland.

“Three heads are better than one,” added Barnett.

Anderson added, “I think we’ve got enough variety in terms of age, gender and experience that we can all offer insights.”

There have been some learning curves.

Barnett had never handled matters like payroll and submitting county claims.

“Without the (county) auditor’s office, we would be in trouble,” he said. “Payroll was a huge challenge. … That office has been phenomenal.”

JEMS staff has seemed to embrace the management structure, all three said.

“It helps that we’ve all been on a truck,” said Anderson, referring to the trio’s own experience with hundreds of ambulance runs.