EMS losing money on drug-related runs

Residents opposed to the upcoming road closure of State Route 141 by the Ohio Department of Transportation expressed their position  at the Lawrence County Commission meeting Tuesday through Larry Pernestti, who has spearheaded an effort for the road to remain open, or at least be given a better alternate route.

The closure would be due to repairs on a culvert bridge about four miles out State Route 141 from Ironton in front of the Sugarcreek Christian Academy, and would begin May 30. The closure would continue for 30 days, if everything goes smoothly.

Pernestti said that although preparation work has been going on at the site for about a month, ODOT just put signs up signifying the closure about a week ago.

Pernestti added that he has had a few conversations with Troy Huff, construction supervisor for ODOT District 9, who said the reasons for the repairs included an old design of the bridge, narrowness, outdated and unsafe concrete sidewalls and minor erosion. On average, 5,000 vehicles travel on the road at the site each day.

Factors that go into deciding if a road closure is necessary include local schools and businesses being affected, alternate routes being OK for detours and receiving the OK from emergency personnel.

Pernestti said he agrees that the work needs to be done, however, he and other residents take issue with the process on how it was done, and the things that weren’t done leading up to the closure that should have been.

Lawrence County EMS Director Buddy Fry, Lawrence County Sheriff Jeff Lawless and a local fire chief all said that they were not contacted by ODOT notifying them of the closure.

Besides response times being delayed for emergency personnel, other factors Pernestti stated as being reasons against the closure include services such as trash pickup and mail being disrupted, loss of business for local businesses being hurt by less traffic, and road construction being done on numerous other routes the closure would detour traffic to, as well as some of the alternate routes being very narrow and unsuitable for the amount of traffic the closure would cause.

Also at the meeting, Pernestti told commission that he has spoken to State Rep. Ryan Smith, R-93, in hopes of getting the full closure stopped, or at least a better detour put in near the site.

Commission President Bill Pratt said he was going to write a letter to the state in support of Pernestti and the residents, signed by the commissioners and other office holders who wished to sign.

Fry addressed commission about an EMS study that was conducted on costs involved in drug runs throughout the county from Dec. 1, 2016 through Feb. 28, 2017.

The study looked at 125 drug-related EMS runs compared to 125 non-drug-related EMS runs during that time. The initial charges for the drug-related runs studied added up to $99,208.40. Out of that total, insurance paid $13,252.10 with $46,810.63 made in Medicaid and Medicare adjustments.

Individuals in these cases paid $0 in private pay, leaving a balance of $39,145.67.
For the 125 non-drug-related runs, EMS initially charged a total of $101,501. Out of that total, insurance companies paid $30,544.45 with $54,336.50 made in Medicaid and Medicare adjustments.

Individuals in these cases paid $2,982.73 in private pay, leaving a balance of $13,869.38.

Following the study, Fry said that the county EMS is only making one-third as much money on drug-related runs compared to other runs.

During that time period, approximately 2,900 total EMS runs were made.

Lawrence County Department of Job and Family Services Assistant Director Rich Blankenship spoke to commission about the children affected by the drug epidemic. The agency was recently awarded an Ohio START (Sobriety, Treatment and Reducing Trauma) grant to assist with the children in drug-affected families. He added that currently, the agency has 68 children in custody with 45 of those related to drug-related offenses, and there is a strong need for finding foster homes for children.

Anyone interested in becoming a foster parent can contact the Lawrence County DJFS.

In other action, the commissioners:

• Received and filed the Dog Warden Report dated May 13, 2017.

• Approved two floodplain permits.

• Terminated part-time paramedic John Music from employment with the Lawrence County EMS due to failure to work.

• Approved and signed a resolution authorizing the Political Subdivision to Participate in the State Ohio Cooperative Purchasing Program.

• Approved and signed the support letter for the State Route 7 TRAC application (Chesapeake Bypass).

• Approved the inter-county trade funds between the Lawrence County Department of Job and Family Services and the Clark County DJFS in the amount of $33,243.

• Approved the Title XX County Profile for the Lawrence County Department of Job and Family Services.

• Approved two transfer funds.

• Met in executive session with Lawrence County Chief Deputy Auditor Chris Kline regarding hire, fire, reprimand. Davey Hill was promoted from custodian to maintenance 1.

• Met in executive session with Ironton Mayor Katrina Keith, Rick Jenson and Lawrence County Treasurer Stephen Burcham regarding Real Estate. No action was taken.

• Met in executive session with Kline regarding Real Estate. No action was taken.