UVa EMS giving aid to Fluvanna County Rescue Squad

Nov. 03--University of Virginia emergency services personnel are giving the Fluvanna County Rescue Squad's volunteer ambulance crews a manpower boost.

UVa crews are running calls with county volunteers from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. as a way to help Fluvanna's ambulance service deal with daytime manpower shortages.

The contract, which is expected to run until the end of June, will cost about $150,000, with funds taken from previously approved general fund money, according to county officials.

The contract was approved last month by the Board of Supervisors.

The contract crew includes paramedics and advanced emergency medical technicians, and will allow the ambulance crews to provide more advanced care and improve response times, officials said.

"Since the majority of our volunteer medics work during the day, having paid crews allows opportunity for our daytime providers to work alongside medic-level personnel on a regular basis," Ashley Roberts, Lake Monticello Rescue Chief, said in a prepared statement. "Most importantly, having another crew available during the day in the county should help us provide faster patient care to the community."

Volunteer squads around the state have been struggling to recruit and retain volunteers in the last decade, officials from the Virginia Association of Volunteer Rescue Squads say.

In July, state inspectors renewed the county rescue squad's two-year operating license, three months after an inspection found equipment missing, broken or stained with dried body fluid.

The Virginia Office of Emergency Medical Services downgraded the squad's license to provisional status following a May inspection.

In addition to the troubles with equipment, inspectors found poorly kept paperwork in the initial inspection. The squad had corrected all of those issues by July, state inspectors said.

Copyright 2013 - The Daily Progress, Charlottesville, Va.