Linn Rescue Division on budget chopping block

For 35 years, residents of Linn County's smaller rural communities received the same level of emergency medical services as Cedar Rapids, but that could end this summer.

The Linn County Sheriff's Office Rescue Division - known as Rescue 57, its radio call sign - is not currently funded in the next fiscal year. Supporters say it's a valuable service they don't want to lose.

“They come well-equipped,” Troy Mills Fire Chief Joe Fiala said of the Rescue Division. “A lot of times we might be short manpower or the equipment they carry.”

Local volunteer fire departments have expanded their complement of equipment since the 1970s, but as small-town jobs migrated to the city, manpower - especially with advanced paramedic skills - ran short, particularly on weekdays.

“Daytime help is kind of hard around here,” said Fiala.

“They do so many things North Linn can't do,” said Prairieburg Fire Chief Darren Paustian. “North Linn has one paramedic that can start IVs and give medication, and if someone has a heart attack and he's not on duty …”

The cloudy future of Rescue 57 is an indirect result of Linn County's new “budgeting for outcomes” process. After supervisors instructed department heads to pare spending to 98.5 percent of current levels, Sheriff Brian Gardner cut services that aren't state-mandated or revenue-generating, leaving the division's $300,000 annual cost off the department's $16 million annual budget.

“It's not my idea to put rescue on the chopping block, but I followed their guidelines,” he said. “As great a service as it is, rescue is not required to be provided.”

When county supervisors reviewed departments' spending plans and restored some functions, Rescue 57 didn't make the cut.

“It's extremely important that we have Rescue 57 in the county, but the sheriff's budget, by the guidelines, called for the sheriff to cut $964,000 worth of services,” said Supervisor John Harris of Palo. “There just came a point where we had to make a choice.”

Rescue 57 doesn't transport patients, but its paramedics treat them at the scene and stabilize them for transport, often riding along to the hospital aboard the local department's ambulance.

The three deputies staffing Rescue 57 are paramedic specialists, the highest level of emergency responder certification. They have the know-how to diagnose injury and illness and administer medications and drugs, intravenously if needed.

When not on a call during the day, Rescue 57's paramedics work in the emergency room at St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids.

“Paramedics who work in the ER are some of the best, well-rounded paramedics,” division Deputy Kellie Hughes said. “When you're working in the field, a lot of times you just drop (patients) off.”

Over the last fiscal year, St. Luke's paid the county $38,000 for the paramedics' ER services.

“They're really an adjunct” to regular staff, said Sandi McIntosh, the hospital's director of emergency services. “They're never considered the primary caregiver, because we know they have to get up and leave” when Rescue 57 is paged.

“We were lucky to have a partnership with St. Luke's,” said Ted Beuter, 64, assigned by Sheriff Walter Grant to develop the service in the early 1970s.

“It was going to be kind of a shared program - a rescue unit and a crime-scene patrol unit,” recalled Beuter, who retired from the sheriff's office in 2005 and now lives in rural Center Point.

When it became apparent crime-scene duties didn't allow the flexibility to respond to accidents and medical calls, the two functions were separated. As more departments received extrication tools in the 1990s, “that's when we got into the advanced medical care,” Beuter said.

The unit also has three boats for water rescues.

“There are some really good paramedics who have been doing the job for a really long time,” said Hughes, 36, of Cedar Rapids. “(In) some of these small towns, the paramedic doesn't work in the medical field. So they don't get to use their skills that much.”

It's an issue nationwide.

“That's a real work force issue, in terms of volunteers,” said Dr. Robert O'Connor, chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of Virginia. “We've seen a trend around the country moving toward paid crews, even for EMT basic, because (volunteers) have to work. ... It's just unfortunate we're in this time where government has competing interests like that.”

Citing its lifesaving record, Gardner vowed to keep Rescue 57 “by hook or by crook.” He said efforts to identify other funding have yielded nothing so far, but supervisors maintain hope.

“I think there is still life to it,” said Supervisor Linda Langston of Cedar Rapids. “We're going to put it back on the agenda to talk about budget and oversight.”

Supervisor Brent Oleson of Marion points out the sheriff is getting a 4.7 percent increase in his budget. “I'm sure he'll find it. He's going to have to cut something, and I don't think he's going to cut that,” Oleson said.

The county's budget for the fiscal year starting July 1 becomes final after a public hearing March 14.