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Sawyer County public-safety update: plane forced landing, jail MAT injections and rising EMS calls
Summary
The county's sheriff and emergency-services leaders reported a safe forced landing of a small plane, jail changes including a move to monthly injectable MAT for six inmates and a spike in EMS calls tied to nursing-home transfers and youth Delta-8 vape incidents.
Sheriff and emergency-services officials briefed the Sawyer County Public Safety Committee on recent incidents and operational changes, including a small-plane forced landing, jail medical changes and a rise in ambulance runs tied to nursing-home transfers.
Sheriff reported the single-pilot plane lost power before noon and executed a forced landing in a farm field, intentionally keeping the landing gear up to stop more quickly; "he got the plane down on the ground and walked away safely," the sheriff said. Committee members noted gratitude that the pilot was uninjured and praised multi-agency response.
Lieutenant reported patrol statistics for July, saying call volume for the month was about 770 and noting a three-month up-and-down trend; the lieutenant provided year-to-date crash totals and enforcement counts, and announced the hiring of full-time Deputy Mike Mayer to a day-shift position who will also assist court services.
The jail reported an average daily population in July of 52.5 and a current in-custody population of 60. Jail staff said they are upgrading camera coverage and that the jail transitioned medical-contract services in May, retaining the long-time jail nurse with the new contractor. On medication-assisted treatment (MAT), staff said six inmates are enrolled and that the county will shift from oral pills to monthly injectable administration performed by clinic personnel.
"We have six inmates that are currently in the program," jail staff said, and the county expects clinic staff will administer injections monthly to reduce in-house handling of medications.
Emergency Services reported runs are considerably higher this year, especially transfers to and from nursing homes during a local COVID wave among elderly residents. The service reported an increase in younger patients presenting with anxiety and breathing complaints and linked many cases anecdotally to use of Delta-8 vaping products and gummies. "It's kind of getting out of control," Mr Feml said of Delta-8 use and said he planned outreach with Public Health.
Committee members also discussed mutual-aid ambulance responses during high-call periods and requested a report showing out-of-county ambulance responses attached to mutual-aid incidents. On billing, Emergency Services is working with a billing vendor to ensure appropriate ALS1 coding for higher reimbursement rates.
The committee received these reports for information and asked for follow-up materials, including a written summary of call-mapping for ambulance service-area review and documentation on vendor contracting for the jail medical transition.
