Ambulance district gets digitalized maps
With Bill Florea at the wheel, Jerry Lager pulls up a new mapping program on new Nodaway County Ambulance District iPads. The program allows pinpoint mapping of all addresses in the region. Before the program, the ambulance district used printed plat books.
The Nodaway County Ambulance District board took another step forward during its July 13 meeting, digitizing maps used by the ambulance drivers.
The purchase of six iPads, complete with OtterBox cases, was approved from Midwest Computer in Platte City in the amount of $4,121.94, which was the lowest submitted bid.
At last month’s meeting the board discussed the option of going to an electronic mapping program from Midland GIS, recommended by Nodaway County Assessor Rex Wallace, who also serves as the county’s 911 administrator. The existing printed plat map book used by ambulance crews, recently plotted a north county residence near Wilcox in the wrong spot, doubling the ambulance’s response time to a distress call.
Ambulance district staff is currently being trained by Midland GIS on how to operate the program. Once training is complete, the iPads will be mounted in each of the ambulances.
“This really makes our location pinpoint more precise,” Nodaway County Ambulance District Manager of Operations Bill Florea said. “Every address has a dot that provides us with an exact location.”
Florea went on to talk about the days before even the plat book when the passenger in the ambulance would have a large map of the county spread across the dash, day or night, reading off directions.
“Sometimes some of the calls that came in would have directions based on local landmarks so sometimes the new guys wouldn’t know where they were going,” Florea said.
An added bonus is that each iPad is GPS located so drivers know of their exact coordinates when calling into other ambulances or even Life Flight. The feature also allows the district to print off the maps with grids at the click of a button if ever there is a need for search and rescue.
“This kind of purchase doesn’t just happen overnight,” Florea added. “Our board has been very conservative with their spending to where we are sitting well financially that we are able to make a purchase like this. We are very fortunate as a rural ambulance district to have the equipment we do, and that is because we are supported by the county we serve.”
Florea also informed the board during his report that the district received a June 2016 sales tax deposit of $99,601.36, which is an increase of $11,736.50, or .6 percent, over June 2015.
With the delivery of the new PAT van earlier in the month, the board discussed options for what to do with the 2002 Dodge PAT van. The board approved negotiating a contract with Tri-State Ford with a reserve price to be determined for the sale of the van. The contract will be presented at the next meeting for final acceptance.
The board welcomed Shaundi Dobbins, who was present at the meeting, to the ambulance district staff as a new business associate. Dobbins began the position July 7.
The June Medicare/Medicaid adjustment of $3,858.38 was approved.
After a short time in closed session to discuss personnel, the board resumed open session to grant employee Jared McQueen a performance incentive of $500 and a merit raise of .18¢ per hour.
Bill Florea demonstrates how ambulance drivers currently map out locations when on call, using county, city, and university maps. The district will go digital when trainings are complete for the new Midland GIS-designed program available on iPads.