URGENT-THIS FRIDAY: EMERGENCY SERVICES MEETING (Aug 2) If you are concerned about emergency medical services in the Lost River Valley it is imperative that you attend the Hardy County Commission meeting this Friday, August 2nd at 9am the Hardy County Courthouse in Moorefield at 204 Washington Street. The future of our emergency services will be discussed. The outcome of this meetings will effect every one of us in the Lost River Valley and all are urged to attend if possible. Last Tuesday the Hardy County Commissioners put forth a motion to eliminate the ambulance authority they just created, not adopt the ambulance fees they just proposed and to revoke their commitment to buy the Mathias-Baker fire house in Baker, which they bid on and won at auction. The motion was objected to and the elimination of the ambulance authority was removed. The other two proposals passed. So where does that leave us and what does all this mean? Here’s what we think we know: Last year our Hardy County Commissioners approved hundreds of thousands of dollars of payments to help keep the previous ambulance service afloat and stay out of bankruptcy. Unfortunately, the payments only helped temporarily, the previous ambulance service went bankrupt and the equipment, and their building was foreclosed upon. The foreclosure left the east side of Hardy County with only an all-volunteer ambulance service, which a cadre of emergency volunteers continued to try and fulfill. It seems almost impossible to have an only all-volunteer service to rely upon (not to mention unfair to the valiant volunteers). According to the WV Attorney General, the County Commissioners, by law, are required to provide ambulance service whether by volunteer efforts or a pay as you go or a county wide assessment. To deal with the impending disaster of not having EMS/ambulance services on the east side of Hardy County the County Commissioners voted to establish an ambulance authority. The ambulance authority has been diligently working over the past three months to create solutions to the problems they have been charged with solving. The Commission also recently proposed monthly fees to provide paid personnel to supplement our volunteer emergency medical personnel to make sure that no call for services goes ignored and county wide ambulance service is fully reinstated. At the last County Commission meeting and at least two special meetings there has been a community uproar, with most objections focusing on the new proposed fee. Jean Flanagan at the Moorefield Examiner has an informative three-part series on emergency services in Hardy County that we also highly recommend. You can find part on HERE, part two HERE and part three HERE. It would be great to have a large showing of Lost River Valley residents at this next meeting. Please let us know if you will be attending by sending an email to FriendsOfLostRiverValley@gmail.
Posted on: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 12:05:36 +0000
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