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Delaware County approves four ambulances, power stretchers and EMS training arrangements; OhioHealth ranked for employee health services
Summary
The Delaware County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved purchase agreements for four ambulances and related power stretchers, updated EMS training access rules and ranked OhioHealth first for occupational health and wellness services in a three-year contract slightly under budget.
The Delaware County Board of Commissioners on April 3 approved a set of measures to update emergency medical services equipment and support for county EMS employees.
Jeff Fischel, director of Delaware County EMS, told commissioners the board would approve a purchase agreement for four ambulances from Frazer and cancel a 2024 order to Demers: "Before you is a resolution purchase agreement for, 4 ambulances from, Frasier. I'm here to answer any questions about this resolution, and I tried my best to kind of update in detail, the reason for the vendor change," he said. Fischel said the county had budgeted for two ambulances this year but would cancel the prior order so the net result is four ambulances from Frazer.
The board also approved an agreement to buy power stretchers that will be installed in the new ambulances. Fischel said the stretchers are ordered whenever new ambulances are added to the fleet.
Commissioners approved revised EMS training language that does not change tuition rates but allows mutual-aid partners to use the county training site and have the county process certification cards for a pass-through charge. Fischel described the change as "just kind of [a] neighborly way of helping out smaller agencies." The board voted to keep the existing rates while enabling outside public-safety agencies to train at the county site and pay the county’s costs for certification processing.
Separately, the board reviewed bids for occupational health and wellness services for EMS employees. Fischel said the county received two bids and recommended OhioHealth as the top-ranked vendor and VO2X as second. "The award for OhioHealth will be a 3 year, that I'm happy to say is slightly under what we budgeted for it, and they will continue to do the work that they've been doing with us," Fischel said. The commissioners approved the ranking and the three-year award.
All four measures — the ambulance purchase, power stretchers, training-language update and vendor ranking — were approved unanimously.
The ambulance purchase and stretcher order will follow the county’s purchasing procedures and budget authorizations; Fischel answered commissioners' questions about vendor change and billing follow-up during the discussion. No purchase prices or vendor contract numbers were specified in the meeting record.
Votes at the meeting were recorded as aye by Barb Lewis, president of the Delaware County Board of Commissioners, and Gary Merrill, commissioner.
The EMS director said the county's current billing transition and prior overpayment reconciliations are proceeding with the county's billing contractor and auditor's office; he said the billing contractor was preparing documentation for individual refunds and actively pursuing outstanding amounts related to prior billing.
