Blaine County’s Ambulance District currently has well-trained paramedics and EMTs, and well-equipped ambulances, to respond to accidents and the life-saving needs of the residents and visitors of our community. A community of our size is very fortunate to have this capability to save lives.
Paramedics have advanced medical training and can perform medical functions not allowed to other emergency responders. Additionally, the administration of heart medication, pain medication and a full complement of allergic reaction medication can only be delivered by paramedics.
With the substantial increase in Blaine County’s population, and more distant development over the past several years, ambulance responders must cover more geographic territory. Our public is aging and in greater need of immediate life-saving capability. Some of our children have life-threatening allergies. Additionally, an increasing number of vehicle accidents are placing more strain on our response system.
However, despite our aversion to asking for more money the costs of gasoline and motor oil, critical equipment, specialized paramedic training to maintain proficiency, ambulance replacements, and medications have all risen exponentially in a few short years. Medicare and private insurance re-imbursements have dropped sharply (click for graph comparing revenues and expenses). The present ambulance budget can’t overcome these many financial challenges (click for detailed Fiscal Year 2009 financial analysis).
On May 27th, the voters of Blaine County will be asked to vote on a referendum to raise $350,000 through an Ambulance District tax of $3.00 per $100,000 of assessed valuation. This amounts to $12 a year if your home is valued at $400,000. Another way to think of this is 25 cents a week. We are asking you to vote “YES” on Proposition 1 on the ballot.
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Please click on the FAQ link or contact link if you have any questions. Thank you for visiting our site and wanting to be better informed about paramedic-level ambulance service.
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| BALLOTS AVAILABLE |
Absentee ballots are available, and you can vote early starting April 7th.
Click HERE for detailed information. |
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| RECENT Q&A |
| Video interviews with local Paramedics, courtesy of... | 5/19
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| Welcome to BlaineCountySAFER.com's Question & Answer... | 4/6
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