Wyo. county receives EMS grant

PINEDALE, Wyo. — The Sublette County Rural Health Care District learned earlier this month that they are the recipients of the Wyoming State EMS Needs Assessment grant.

This grant is possible through state legislative action that established the EMS Sustainability Trust Account. This account, which is administered and funded through the Department of Health, Public Health Division and Office of Emergency Medical Services, provides for two types of grants. Grants to conduct a needs assessment to determine possible solutions for sustaining emergency medical services in a local community and a grant to assist a community in implementing those solutions after a needs assessment has been conducted. The RHCD is the recipient of the first.

Per Malenda Hoelscher, HCA for the District, over the next several months the RHCD will be working with SafeTech Solutions, the company contracted by the State of Wyoming, to conduct the needs assessment. The assessment will include a review of the current level of service. The review will including area served, staffing patterns, staffing mix, response times, budget information and level of collaboration with other local and regional emergency entities as well as health care facilities such as the clinics, St John’s Medical Center, EIRMC, University of Utah and Sweetwater Memorial.

The information obtained during this assessment is intended to assist a service, such as the Rural Health Care District, in developing a strategic plan for sustainability of emergency medical services in their community.

The findings of the EMS Needs Assessment is expected this summer. The RHCD will be the third EMS Needs Assessment to be completed in the state. Fremont County and Sweetwater County have recently been completed with Cambell County Memorial Hospital also selected for this grant.