Weiser ambulance could respond to calls again in Annex if agreement is approved

The Weiser Ambulance District could provide first responder services once again to the community of Annex, Ore., right across the river if a mutual aid agreement is drafted and approved.
 The Weiser ambulance service stopped making emergency calls to the small community more than three years ago in April of 2017, citing legal and liability issues at the time that needed to be addressed and resolved.
 Since then, Treasure Valley Paramedics based in Ontario, Ore., has provided coverage for Annex. Weiser’s ambulance is five minutes away versus 15 minutes for paramedics to drive out from Ontario.
 The former Weiser ambulance director said the rules and regulations that the Oregon Health Authority had in place made it unworkable. One major issue is that paramedics with the Weiser ambulance are licensed to practice emergency medicine in Idaho but not in Oregon.
 The director of Malheur County emergency services is drafting a mutual aid agreement that would allow the Weiser ambulance to respond to Annex if there were no other ambulances available, Weiser ambulance supervisor Corey Patocka told the ambulance board.
 Weiser would only be called for assistance if the three ambulances based in Ontario were out on calls. According to the agreement between Treasure Valley Paramedics and Malheur County, one ambulance must stay in Ontario at all times, Patocka said.
 If the other two ambulances were on calls elsewhere, or in the event of a mass casualty situation, Weiser could be asked in an emergency to respond to Annex, if a mutual aid agreement was in place that covered everybody legally, Patocka said.
 “It’s something we’ll have to look at and review,” he said.
 The Weiser Ambulance District board would have to approve any agreement to respond to calls for service to Annex, and it is something that likely would take some discussion and probably wouldn’t happen very fast, Weiser ambulance adviser Tim Atwood said.
 Washington County commissioners serve as the Weiser Ambulance District board and are in the process of hiring a new EMS director for the ambulance. Working on a mutual aid agreement with Malheur County might be something for a new director to work on, Atwood said.
 Even when the Weiser ambulance did respond to calls for service in Annex back in 2017, it didn’t happen very often, maybe two dozen times in a year, the former ambulance director previously said.
 The Weiser ambulance had been answering emergency calls, including auto accident injuries, in Annex as a professional courtesy for 40 years, he said.
 Malheur County has an ambulance district that collects property taxes in Oregon, just like the Weiser ambulance district collects taxes in Washington County. Malheur County contracts with Treasure Valley Paramedics to provide service to all of Malheur County.
 The Weiser Area Rural Fire Department is based in Weiser and has a contract with the Annex Fire District to provide fire protection coverage across the river. Weiser rural fire does not provide any medical services to Annex.