The Stoddard County Ambulance District (SCAD) Board of Directors voted to put a rebuilt engine in one of their old units at an approximate cost of $13,000 and keep it during their regular meeting Wednesday night. The ambulance was to be traded toward the cost of the new ambulance that should be delivered within the next two weeks.
SCAD Manager Dave Cooper informed the board the old ambulance had developed major motor problems just prior to the trade. American Response Vehicles was giving the district $7,500 for the old ambulance as a trade-in.
Thursday morning Cooper said he spoke with Blake Clifton with American Response Vehicles, and that the company may be interested in taking the old ambulance and selling it for parts. Cooper said that would save the district the cost of putting an engine in the unneeded ambulance. Clifton was to get back with Cooper later in the day.
At the meeting, SCAD Assistant Manager Chuck Kasting said the problem was with a risk pin on the number five cylinder. He said if that was all that was wrong with the engine, the cost could be as little as $3,500. Kasting warned that once mechanics disassemble the engine, they could find more problems. He said a rebuilt engine has been put into the chassis in July 2007 when the vehicle had 232,000 miles on it. He said the vehicle now has 421,000 miles on it.
Board President Sam Huey said mechanics would likely find more problems with the engine. He stated that if one risk pin was bad, the mechanics would likely find more problems.
Board Member Sue Welborn added that it would be wrong to trade the vehicle if the repair would not fix the engine. She said the district should go ahead and pay for a rebuilt engine.
Cooper said if they put the rebuilt engine in the ambulance, it would have a two-year warranty. He said one option was to pay to have it fixed and keep it rather than trading it in. The district would have to pay the $7,500 difference.
The district just paid $192,053 for the new Ford F-550 ambulance, which will be arriving soon.
"If we are going to put $13,000 into it," said Board Member Chad Maddox, "I don't think we should get rid of it."
Cooper noted that the drive train had over 400,000 miles on it, so it was questionable how much more the district would get out of it. Huey said it would be used as a backup anyway, and would not be in regular service. He also said a the Freightliner drive should hold up with that many miles on it.
Welborn said she didn't like trading it if there were questions about the motor. She then made a motion to put a rebuilt motor into the old unit and keep it as a backup. It was seconded by Board Member Rick McLane. It passed by a 4-1 vote with Board Member Al Banken abstaining. Cooper is still negotiating with American Response vehicles about taking the old ambulance as is.
Cooper informed the board that there was to be a meeting with Motorola Solutions engineers on Monday, June 27, to discuss the installation of a new digital radio system in the dispatch center. The system will include three dispatch consoles. He said there had been some miscommunication between local service representatives and the corporate offices of Motorola. These were to be ironed out in the meeting Monday. He said assembly of some of the components had started at a location in Illinois. The engineers wanted to view the dispatch center in Dexter and prepare specifications for the physical installation of the system.
"After Monday, we will have a better handle on the schedule of when the system will be installed," said Cooper.
In other business, Cooper said the district has applied for a $150,000 Statewide Communications Grant. He said the district would not receive the grant, but did receive one mobile radio. He added the cost of the mobile radio is around $4,500.
In the financial report, it was pointed out that total patient revenue was down this year in comparison to the same period last year. Kasting said more accounts are going to collections than last year.
"Southeast Missouri is usually behind when it comes to the economy," Kasting said. "I think we are just seeing the effect of the recession."
As of the end of May this year, $20,759.66 has been turned over to collections. Last year during the same period only $8,095 had gone to collections. Kasting said "people are just unable to pay."
Many of the billing addresses given were not correct, and the phone numbers given to staff were non-working cell phones, said Kasting. The district had no way to contact patients for collecting the bills.
"Some of them are homeless," said an office worker.
Banken questioned whether there were homeless people in Stoddard County.
"Where do they eat?" asked Banken.
Welborn said many obtain food from food banks in the county and others from churches.
Moving on, Kasting said overall revenue was up about $15,000, and that the number of ambulance runs was on pace to equal last year. Kasting was going over the financial report because Cooper was on a conference call with Motorola officials. Kasting said there were 467 runs in May, which was 12 less than last year. He said he checked Wednesday morning and there had been 2,196 runs by the district this year, which was identical to last year for the same time period.
The board approveed paying accounts payable of $386,183.11. Kasting said it was higer than usual because of the payment for the new ambulance, a $64,000 payment on the new radio system and a $20,000 payment on the building loan.
Kasting also presented the board with a breakdown of the destinations of ambulance runs in the district for the year. SouthEAST i Dexter was the most frequent with 566, St. Francis Medical Center 290, SoutheastHealth in Cape 265 and Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center 263.
SCAD Communications Director Jamie Holcomb showed the board a breakdown of calls to 911. She noted that 228 were hang-up calls and 197 were accidental calls out of the 1,368 total calls in May. She said many were from children playing with phones and others were the result of accidental cell phone calls. She said it was a growing problem.