The inside of the SCAS’s newest emergency vehicle. 

Volunteer-based service provides efficient and quality care

BY CARI BASE
S-E Staff Reporter

The Stevens County Sheriff’s Ambulance (SCSA), which exists to transport the sick and injured of Stevens County, recently acquired a new vehicle for their fleet, upping their numbers to include four fully stocked ambulances, two rescue/extrication vehicles, and one support  vehicle.  Each ambulance carries two Washington state-certified EMTs, a heart monitor, advanced airways, and a pulse oximeter, among other equipment.  
The organization’s semi-new facility, located next to the roundabout on the north end of town, provides the ambulance service with ample space to host EMT training, meetings, and even rent out use of the facility to other groups (such as the City of Colville Police Department).
Funded through FEMA grants, the trauma fund (taken from the $7 vehicle registration change fee), state money to emergency services, and their own revenue from rescue/transport charges, SCSA Director Bill Beusan is justifiably proud of his staff of EMTs.
 “The Stevens County Sheriff’s Ambulance does not assess any taxes,”  Beusan said.  “Volunteers are the backbone of the service.”  

One of the least expensive services

In fact, Beusan goes on to say, “We are one of the least expensive ambulance transport services in the state.”  
The ambulance service covers 2,000 square miles total in northern Stevens County and a little into Pend Orielle and Ferry Counties.  The service operates on a tiered response.  Because the area of coverage is expansive, first responders are absolutely crucial to the service, like the Northport Fire First Response.  
Without the SCSA sharing their resources and training facilities with first responders, outlying areas would have a difficult time providing the services they do, Beusan related. Symbiotically, in rural emergencies, the service relies on first responders to help stabilize patients until an emergency transport vehicle can arrive on the scene.  The ambulance service boasts
Twenty-seven total volunteers are on its rolls, most of whom have other full-time jobs, with 22 active (five are currently on medical leave) and their average time with the service at 8.8 years.  Fifteen of the volunteers live out of town and stay at the facility when they are on shift; the building has dorm-style rooms and bathrooms.  About half of the EMTs are Level B (basic) volunteers, while the other half are at Level-ILS (Intermediate Life Support), meaning they can do field intervention.
Beusan, who started as a volunteer himself in 1973 and has served as director and coordinator of the service since 1992, works under the supervision of Dr. Sam Artzis, medical director for Stevens County, and Craig Thayer, Stevens County Sheriff.  
Beusan’s counterpart, Terry Gordon, instructs the EMT classes at the facility in Colville.  Washington state law requires that each EMT student spend 110 hours in training, including going out on calls as a third party responder.  The class costs $350, but any EMTs hired by SCSA are reimbursed for half the class after their first year of service and reimbursed for the second half of the class after their second year of service.  Upon graduating from training, all students must take the National Registry of EMTs Test, which requires a $75 testing fee.  

EMT card
 
Once earned, an EMT card is good for three years, with required in-service training every month as well as CPR and HIV training annually.  
The Sheriff’s Ambulance receives about 45 emergency calls per day and makes, on average, 4.5 runs. Seventy-five percent of those are medical and 25 percent are trauma-related. Seventy-percent of all emergency runs serve patients on Medicare or Medicaid.