Nodaway County Ambulance Board needs new ice rescue equipment

The Nodaway County Ambulance board discussed ice rescue equipment during their regular meeting January 18.

In December, the department participated in an ice rescue in an area pond. During the rescue, they discovered one of the rescue suits has a hole in it. Fire Chief Phil Rickabaugh, who serves on the ambulance board, will check on getting the suit patched.

Director of Operations Bill Florea gave the 2019 statistics to board members. The squad interacted with 2,062 patient contacts through 2,006 ambulance calls. The Knights of Columbus responded to 86 calls last year with the PAT van and ambulance personnel conducted 742 trips for a total of 2,834 patient contacts. County rescue squads assisted in 337 calls. Florea will be attending the senior citizen tax meeting on January 21 to help with PAT funding. The board was in agreement to match what is donated by the tax board.

District employees will see an 83¢ per hour raise to adjust for cost of living.

There are currently eight students in the Emergency Medical Responders course.

The 2019 training statistics included nine new Emergency Medical Responders, 58 classes were held, 191 healthcare provider CPR cards were issued and 63 heart saver CPR cards issued. The district has a total of 106 active emergency medical responders.

After closed session discussion, the board re-entered open session and voted to grant Kirby Sybert a longevity pay of $480, and a performance incentive of $412.50. Phil Lance received a merit raise of 18¢ per hour and a performance incentive of $587.50.