The Demorest City Council discussed its concerns and costs for the city’s fire department to become licensed as medical first responders. The cost for the department to become licensed is estimated to be $11,250, an expense that was not factored into the current year’s budget.
The notification came about in February, after Demorest’s budget went into effect, when the cities learned that in order to provide certain medical procedures, they must become medically licensed.
Two common medical procedures for firefighter first responders is administering oxygen or checking an individual’s glucose level during a diabetic event, a practice firefighters have done for years. Firefighters typically arrive on the scene and begin the basic medical procedures prior to an ambulance arriving.
Demorest Fire Chief David Scheuer addressed the council during its work session on Tuesday explaining the current situation the fire department faces.
SEE RELATED: Demorest will discuss medical first responder certification
He told the council that for the fire department to meet the requirements for the license would cost the city approximately $11,250. The costs associated with meeting the requirements were $7,500 for equipment and supplies, around $3,000 for a medical director, and $750 for a HIPAA compliance program.
According to Scheurer, as of June 30, the Habersham County Emergency Services has quit providing supplies to the city fire departments. Those supplies included gloves, bandages, oxygen masks, and cervical collars to name a few.
Many of the city fire departments have an automatic aid agreement with the county to respond to calls that are in the unincorporated areas. According to Scheurer, the city of Demorest runs many calls outside the city limits providing emergency services to county residents.
Some calls are of a non-emergency nature. He gave an example that occurred over the weekend where the city’s fire department was dispatched to an apartment complex where a resident didn’t know how to change the battery in their smoke alarm and it was going off. The apartment complex was in the county.
However, others are of a more serious and emergent nature. Many of those calls are on GA 365 involving car accidents that are outside the city limits. Those calls require the very supplies that the county has ceased to provide to the city fire departments.
Council member Shawn Allen expressed his opinion on the matter. “We’re still running calls out to the county and the county is not paying for us, for these supplies that they used to do.” He added, “We’re basically subsidizing county residents with your, Demorest tax dollars.”
Mayor Jerry Harkness asked what was staff’s recommendation? City Manager Mark Musselwhite responded, “There’s no budget for this because this came out in February when we found out about it.”
Moving forward, Musselwhite told the council, “This will be something Dave (Scheurer) and I will be actively working through.”
According to Musselwhite, he and Scheurer have a meeting scheduled with the County Manager and the Director of Habersham County Emergency Services next week to discuss the situation.
