Wisconsin County Considers Regionalizing EMS

Dane County may start the next national trend with regionalizing emergency services.

There may soon be a day when your local ambulances and fire trucks won't reflect your municipality. Instead they may be part of one regionalized fleet, one regionalized command.

"Ideally, for the residents we're trying to provide more efficient and effective emergency medical services at the same or even lower cost compared to what they're paying now," said Town of Blooming Grove administrator Michael Wolf.

Wolf is helping lead a charge that, so far, is being well received.

Directors from 15 of Dane County's 23 EMS districts have expressed interest in forming a regional EMS service.

The concept is only theoretical right now, so there are no details, but the fact that so many are embracing the concept is a marked change in Dane County municipal philosophy, reported WISC-TV.

Traditionally most municipalities, in the past, would want to protect their own turf.

"There's always a certain amount of provincialism among some people," said Wolf. "But I do think a lot of Dane County is starting to realize if we work together as a regional area we can accomplish a lot more than if we do things independently."

Dane County's EMS Coordinator Tim Hillebrand sees the idea as the beginning of a major trend.

"I think it is," said Hillebrand. "I think we look at tax time and taxes are getting tighter and budgets are getting tighter. We need to look at how we can best utilize these resources. We've gone from a lot of volunteer services to paid services on EMS and fire and we've got to look at how we can best spend our dollars to be the most efficient to the taxpayer."

"I think anytime you start talking about using resources more effectively and efficiently, I think it helps the taxpayers," said Wolf. "It helps the people who need the emergency services. I think it's the right thing to do, long term."

All agree the hardest part is figuring out how to get it done and keep all the different entities happy.

Wolf said the process will be complex and time consuming. He said the public won't see anything permanent hitting the road for five to 10 years.

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