Progress on OIFR Memorial to 9/11 Firefighters

— from Susan McBain, Orcas Issues reporter —

Artist Robin Lassen is well on her way toward completing the mural in the lobby of Orcas Island Fire & Rescue’s (OIFR’s) Station 21 for the department’s memorial to firefighters, law enforcement officers, and other responders lost in the events of Sept. 11, 2001. The work-in-progress will serve as the backdrop for a portion of steel beam saved from the World Trade Center. The text says “No day shall erase you from the memory of time.”

The Board of Fire Commissioners held its regular monthly meeting on March 18. Highlights of the financial and operations reports were as follows:

• OIFR expenses are right on budget for the year at 16% of expected annual expenses.
• The department responded to 206 calls in January and February, versus 159 in the same period last year.
• There were 50 overlapping calls for service in that time period, versus 36 last year. This pattern has been consistent for many months.
• A fire academy to train new firefighters is under way; six of the eight recruits participating are women.
• The department is working with the two principal medical providers and the Orcas Island Health Care District on coordination of care with EMS. Chief Scott Williams says the meetings have been productive and are strengthening relationships and cooperation among all the parties.
• For the months of January and February, 61 patients were flown off island by Airlift Northwest and Island Air Ambulance. Chief Williams noted that if a patient is flown off and their insurer questions whether transport was needed, the transport provider and OIFR will work with the patient in the appeals process to the insurer.

In response to a citizen inquiry, the BOFC had looked into an issue of a sheriff’s deputy spending a number of nights in the Deer Harbor fire station. The commissioners noted that although the situation was mainly a sign of good relations between the fire and sheriff’s departments, further research found that Washington State regulations do not allow for such housing arrangements without adequate remuneration and an extensive housing agreement with leasing terms. The two agencies agreed that the deputy would find other housing, and he has since vacated the Deer Harbor station.

Chief Williams then gave an extensive update on the new Mobile Integrated Healthcare (MIH) pilot program that OIFR is launching. The program is part of a Medicaid Transformation Project funded through an agreement between the State of Washington and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. As part of an initiative under this program, OIFR is focusing on community-based care coordination. The department has participated in this kind of coordination since 2014, when the CARES program began on Orcas, bringing together a number of organizations to help islanders with broad needs. CARES helpers might offer, for example, welfare checks, transportation to medical appointments, organization of medications, insurance/Medicare navigation, help with respite arrangements, meal delivery, home safety checks, referral to legal services, and support in situations of death and dying. Data gathered during the MIH program will allow OIFR to organize, document, and track such services in order to determine community needs and the level of funding that might be needed
after funding for the MIH program ends by 2021.

Chief Williams and the commissioners then spent time discussing the best way for OIFR to acquire the new ambulance in its plans. The commissioners are considering having a special meeting to examine in detail the costs and benefits of leasing versus buying.

Finally, the commissioners discussed improving emergency communications on Orcas and throughout the County. Funding those improvements will require agreement by all County emergency agencies, including fire, EMS, law enforcement, and public works, on how to meet the $2.1 million price tag. The fire and EMS chiefs on Orcas, San Juan, and Lopez have agreed on the need and are hoping to move the process forward.

The next BOFC meeting is scheduled for Monday, April 15, at 5:30 p.m. at the Eastsound Fire Hall.