Recently the Monticello Village Board has indicated that it may drop service with New Glarus Area EMS and instead go with Green County EMS out of Monroe. In a letter that is being sent to Monticello residents, the New Glarus Area EMS points out that when the residents of Monticello call 911 they deserve to get help as quickly as possible. NGAEMS is asking citizens to attend the next Monticello Public Safety meeting, on Tuesday, May 17th, and/or the Monticello Village Board meeting on Wednesday, May 18th.

New Glarus Area EMS charges municipalities a per capita charge. In the case of Monticello, that amount is approximately $22,000. Green County EMS operates on “run revenue,” therefore there is no charge to the village. But is the dollar amount the most important consideration, or is it a case of “Walmart vs. small business”? That question will be up to the Village Board. It would seem that there are a number of issues for the board and residents of the village to consider.

The importance of getting the closest emergency response possible was in the news recently when Dane County settled a lawsuit brought against it by the family of Christopher Williams, who died in an October 2013 fire on Madison’s south side. In that case, it took Madison firefighters four minutes longer to reach the scene than it should have, according to Madison Fire Chief Steven Davis. There was a Monona fire station that was closer to the fire, but the county-run 911 dispatch center sent Madison. In the wake of Williams’ death, and complaints about the center’s operations, Dane County made changes to improve response time.

Now the Village of Monticello is looking at a possible increase in time for EMS service. Monticello First Response does respond when there’s a call for EMS. However, the training for first responders is vastly different than the training for EMTs. There are, in fact, a large number of procedures that First Response cannot do that EMTs can. In addition, despite the fact that for years, Monticello Fire Department has billed the NGAEMS for calls, the Monticello Fire Board has ended that practice. According to the Monticello Fire Department’s website, the department averages about 110-140 calls per year, with about 70% being First Responder calls. At a rate of $100 per call, the recent move could cost MFD thousands of dollars. How that loss will affect MFD, or if that amount will be passed on to taxpayers, is unknown at this time.

New Glarus Area EMS has served the community for over 40 years. The service has two ambulances, serves approximately 5,000 people, and in 2015 responded to 405 calls.

Again, according to their website, “Green County EMS responds to about 1,400 calls per year and serves approximately 20,000 people. In addition to the City of Monroe, our service area includes seven villages: South Wayne, Browntown, Martintown, Clarno, Juda, Twin Grove, and Oakley. Green County EMS serves 10 townships in both Green and Lafayette counties: Monroe, Wayne, Mt. Pleasant, Clarno, Jordan, Washington, Cadiz, Jefferson, Spring Grove, and Sylvester.”

The service does this with three ambulances, although 803 is listed as “only in service as a back up to 801 and 802 when one of those two needs to be removed from service.”

There is also the question of which hospital a patient will be transported to. Although Green County EMS says on their website that they will transport to any hospital, a 2010 published interview with Chief Dan Nufer said that “that although a patient could be transported to Madison, the transport would first have to be approved by a doctor on call, to ensure that such a transport would be safe.” If a patient is taken to Monroe Clinic hospital, then transferred to a Madison hospital by either ambulance or MedFlight, it is unknown whether the patient’s insurance will cover two transports and two ER visits.

The decisions made by the Monticello Village Board will have long lasting effects on the residents of the village and it is important that people voice their opinions at the meetings on May 17th at 4:30 p.m., and/or the Village Board meeting on May 18th at 7:00 p.m.