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<br />Chief Groves clarified that while the City of Eugene billed $12 million, only 44 percent was collected. He <br />acknowledged going countywide was worthy of consideration. The proposal was brought forward from <br />ASA 4, 5, and 8 as a means to start the conversation. <br /> <br />Chief Murphy thought the proposed LCOG study would reveal the cost would be less than $.75 per <br />thousand assessed property value. <br /> <br />Councilor Zelenka was intrigued by Commissioner Stewart’s proposal. He asked how the governance in <br />such a system would work. He asked what the implications of the ASAs were and if pulling them back to <br />the UGB, which he assumed would result in more ASAs, would be predominantly rural. He asked who <br />determined the level of service in each ASA. <br /> <br />Chief Groves said the governance structure would be researched and determined at a later date. Chief <br />Groves said the standards were developed by the BCC but the individual city councils established their own <br />targets for levels of service based on the BCC requirements. <br /> <br />Chief Murphy said Salem was surrounded by nine ambulance districts and did not provide the level of <br />service provided by Lane Rural Fire/Rescue. The Stayton BLS was all volunteer personnel. If the ASAs <br />were pulled back to the UGB, the Lane County system would resemble that of the Salem area. The level of <br />sophistication in Lane County was unmatched in the state. Many off-duty firefighters volunteered in the <br />rural districts and provided paramedic care in first response situations. The rural life support project was <br />founded in Lane County in 1983 and exported around the state and the country. It provided a talented <br />group of providers who offered care before arrival of ALS and had reinforced the existing system. The <br />high cost of providing ambulance service was left to those who had the financial means to pay for it, and <br />the first response was affordable for the rural areas. Ambulance providers pooled a revenue source in <br />FireMed and funded the medical care equipment fund for central Lane County. <br /> <br />Councilor Pishioneri asked if calls for service in the rural areas that resulted in Life Flight being called by <br />Springfield EMS was a billable event for Springfield EMS. <br /> <br />Chief Murphy said the response in the Cougar area was provided by the United States Forest Service <br />(USFS) group called the Emergency Action Service. They were a rural non-profit organization that <br />provided first response in rural areas staffed mostly by USFS personnel. They could generally respond 40 <br />minutes before the Springfield EMS and would make an initial assessment. If Life Flight was called, <br />Springfield EMS would be waived off before arrival. <br /> <br />Mr. Griffiths said if Life Flight was requested by a fire department to transport a patient, and the patient <br />was put on an aircraft, it was a billable event. He said 9-1-1 protocol called for transport of patients to the <br />closest appropriate medical facility as decided by medical control. Fixed wing aircraft currently were not <br />used for 9-1-1 calls in this area, but typically were used for inter-facility transports for longer distances or <br />those that were not suitable for helicopter transport. <br /> <br />Chief Murphy said Life Flight contributed over $100,000 to the local fire departments to offset any lost <br />revenue. He added his department could bill if it was called and rendered care prior to the arrival of Life <br />Flight. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Joint Elected Officials— January 27, 2009 Page 10 <br /> Lane Board of County Commissioners, Lane Rural Fire/Rescue Board of Directors and Eu- <br />gene and Springfield City Councils <br /> <br />