Valencia County fire chief offers EMS service to Bosque Farms

BOSQUE FARMS — The languishing emergency medical services department in Bosque Farms might get a local partner to help bring that vital service back to the village.

Valencia County Fire Chief Matt Propp went to the village council meeting on Thursday, Sept. 18, with a proposal to provide half-time EMS coverage for Bosque Farms.

“I’m sure everyone is aware of the challenge of EMS in Bosque Farms. We feel like we are in the position to help with that,” Propp told the council. “This is a pretty neutral way to benefit everyone in the community.”

For close to two years, the village hasn’t had an EMS program, lacking a director and volunteers.

Based on available funding, Propp said the county could supply EMS staff for the village’s rescue unit, acting essentially as an EMS contractor to the village. All equipment and funding would remain under the “Bosque Farms umbrella,” he said. “The ambulance is the property of the village, funding would go through the village, supply replacement would be through the village.”

Valencia County would provide EMS staff for 12 hours a day, seven days a week, similar to the model is has in the Tomé district in the unincorporated county.

“It’s proven beneficial to us in the county and makes the system more efficient,” the chief said. “Obviously, a 24-hour model is always better, but I understand funding might not be available.”

Propp said he pulled statistics for medical calls from the Valencia Regional Emergency Communications Center and the highest call volume for EMS services in the village came between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.

“That works well because the majority of responders for this community have a 9-to-5, and with us not covering the night, leaves a lot of potential (volunteer) responders in the community,” he said. “There was a question earlier about volunteer EMS personnel and we would look to the village in that department, whether it’s through the fire department or an EMS department.”

The chief continued, saying if the council went forward with an agreement and partnership with Valencia County, he would encourage anyone wanting to volunteer for EMS shifts overnight to “get on a truck with us, that way they can develop skills and see more call volume, that way, at night, they are able to take on the reduced call volume.”

The county’s proposal ensures at least one paramedic on a truck at all times between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. Continuing with the county’s model of response, Propp said AMR transporting patients to Albuquerque would be the best case scenario.

“That way your ambulance remains in district as much as it can, and available for response,” he said. “We encourage AMR to do transports so our ambulances stay in county as much as possible.”

Propp said while having AMR transport is the ideal, crews are empowered to make their own call as to whether to transport a patient.

“Every incident is specific. We give that power to the crew. If the patients needs to go, they transport,” he said. “Being on this side of the county, it’s easier to get quickly (to Albuquerque) and back. If the crew feels there is a need to go, we don’t challenge that. We empower them to make that decision and not wait for AMR.”

Councilor Erica De Smet asked where funding for supplies would come from and how restocking the village’s ambulance unit after calls would be handled.

Propp said the village is allotted EMS funding from the state, which the village would ideally use to replace supplies and maintain the ambulance.

“Those costs would stay with the village. The benefit of having us come in, for example, is if your ambulance breaks down we have three spares and we’d bring one in and have no loss of service,” the chief said.

He said crews could keep a simple log of consumable items used during calls and have a single point of contact within the village for supply purchases and replacement.

“The easiest way is to have (the village) handle the funds. You could transfer it to us, but it gets a little cloudy since we are only doing 50 percent coverage,” Propp said.

The county’s proposal comes with an annual cost of $380,000 and it wasn’t immediately clear at last week’s meeting where the funding would come from. When the village was contemplating an agreement with the town of Peralta to have it’s assistant fire chief serve as EMS director for Bosque Farms, there was $50,000 on the table to pay for that position.

Bosque Farms Mayor Chris Gillespie said the village has less than what’s needed to have the county come in and run calls.

“We would have to find the rest. There are a number of places we have to identify where we can take from and determine what we’re not going to get somewhere else.”

“You’re saying to get EMS we would not have other things,” De Smet asked.

The mayor said that “is possible. There is money from the state to pay for one individual for a year. We could use that money. There is funding that’s been sitting there for a number of years. All of that has to be ironed out.”