Sunday, July 22, 2001
County's EMS grant 'considerably less' this year
By Ryan Good
Staff Writer
The annual grant the county's EMS services receive from the state is considerably less this year.
The Ohio Department of Public Safety's division of Emergency Medical Services and the state Board of Emergency Medical Services awarded a total of $5.5 million to a total of 803 EMS agencies in Ohio for 2001 and 2002.
"This year it came way down and we really don't know why" said Dan Stahl, administrator of the Seneca County Public Safety Department.
Stahl added that it is usually around $25,000 to $35,000, but this year it was only $15,010.
Of that money, $11,000 will go towards training and the remainder will go to patient care equipment, Stahl said.
The amount will cover about half of what a year's worth of training costs.
The lack of money will force Stahl to examine what is needed and what isn't.
"We probably won't buy as much stuff. We'll have to prioritize what we need and go from there," he said. "It gets complicated. You ask for a lot and hope you get it."
Improvements in EMS services still will be made.
"We'll identify different upgrades and keep building up," Stahl said.
Trauma is the leading cause of death in people between the ages of 1 and 40 and there are more than one million EMS runs in Ohio every year, according to information from the Ohio Department of Public Safety.
The grant money is funded entirely from fines collected from seatbelt violations.