Fallbrook Healthcare District to fund NCFPD ambulance

Fallbrook Hospital closed in December 2014, which has caused North County Fire Protection District (NCFPD) ambulances to transport patients to hospitals further away.

The Fallbrook Healthcare District continues to lease the Fallbrook Skilled Nursing Facility and is also involved in preventative care activities within the community including outreach efforts and the provision of grants to non-profit organizations which provide health programs.

Because the NCFPD ambulances primarily serve patients who live within the boundaries of the Fallbrook Healthcare District, the fire district investigated the possibility of a healthcare district grant for a new ambulance.

"We requested some assistance from the Fallbrook Healthcare District for the purchase of an ambulance given the dramatic increase in mileage and wear and tear on our ambulances," said NCFPD fire chief Stephen Abbott.

The Jan. 21 Fallbrook Healthcare District board meeting addressed grant requests, and the board decision was to fund half of the cost of a new ambulance up to a total of $100,000 in $25,000 annual installments beginning during fiscal year 2015-16. Abbott, who is also on the board of the healthcare district, recused himself from the discussion and vote. The grant acceptance was a Jan. 26 NCFPD board item and passed on a 5-0 vote.

"The healthcare district was very accommodating," Abbott said. "I think they recognized the need."

The closure of Fallbrook Hospital created a 13 percent increase in run volume for 2015 and ambulance mileage nearly doubled. The travel distance from Fallbrook each way is 17.5 miles to Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside, 23 miles to Loma Linda Medical Center in Murrieta, 23.2 miles to Southwest Health Care System in Murrieta, 24.5 miles to Palomar Health Medical Center in Escondido, 26.5 miles to Palomar Health Downtown Campus in Escondido, 30.6 miles to Menifee Valley Medical Center in Sun City, and 35 miles to Pomerado Hospital in Poway.

The need to transport patients to other hospitals also increases the time firefighting resources are not available for a subsequent call.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency's U.S. Fire Administration has an Assistance to Firefighters Grants program which includes Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grants, and in 2015 NCFPD applied for a $1.1 million SAFER grant to cover two additional firefighter/paramedic positions for each shift.

On Sept. 22, the NCFPD board voted 5-0 to accept the grant award which allowed the fire district to increase staffing for each shift from 20 positions (including two reserves as well as 18 full-time responders) to 22 positions. The SAFER grant covers a two-year period.

"That new ambulance coupled with the SAFER grant that we got will allow us to have three ambulances with a fourth that will be cross-staffed," Abbott said.

The SAFER grant allows Station 3 in the Olive Hill area to be cross-staffed with three responders staffing the Station 3 engine and two personnel utilizing the ambulance if both are sent to calls.

A five-year lease purchase for the ambulance is expected to cost approximately $45,000 per year; although NCFPD staff has not yet developed the 2016-17 budget in sufficient detail to determine whether new property tax revenue can cover the balance of the loan payment the district has a sufficient capital equipment reserve fund balance to finance the difference between the ambulance cost and the healthcare district grant.

The new ambulance will include signage that it was funded in part by the Fallbrook Healthcare District grant.