ANNEXATION VOTE ORDERED AUGUST 8, 2023
ANNEXATION VOTE ORDERED AUGUST 8, 2023
On Tuesday June 27, 2023, in compliance with RSMo 190.070 the Osage County Commissioners ordered a ballot measure be presented to voters in the August 8, 2023, election. The ballot measure is for an annexation into the Osage Ambulance District.
On June 1, 2023, the COMM-Unity Ambulance Service in Meta, MO closed and is no longer able to respond to calls in the proposed annex area. When notified of the closure, OAD agreed to respond to calls in the area that COMM-Unity had previously served that was within the Westphalia Fire Protection District area since those boundaries were already loaded into the county dispatching system and it would be the quickest and easiest way to determine who to send when an ambulance was needed. After consulting with the Missouri Bureau of EMS and legal counsel, we conducted a response time study to see what portion of the affected area we could effectively provide ambulance coverage to.
Two additional factors were considered when identifying the proposed annex area.
OAD employs full-time career EMT’s and Paramedics that are required to remain at their designated bases and be ready for service when on duty. With that requirement, we can set an expected response time goal for our ambulances to be enroute to a call from the time of dispatch. During day hours we maintain a 2-minute response time goal and a 4-minute response time goal during night hours.
The second consideration is, OAD operates daily as an Advanced Life Support (ALS) service. Paramedics are on duty and can provide the highest level of prehospital care available to patients when needed. In fact, OAD has been providing ALS response to assist neighboring Basic Life Support (BLS) ambulances responding to this area for quite some time when patients required a higher level of care. This annexation will give us primary responsibility for the area so we can send Paramedics quicker and utilize less resources.
Our proposed annexation area was drafted with the goal of providing the fastest and highest level of patient care to as many people as possible. We will do this by ensuring the annexation area has adequate and reliable ambulance service.
A web map is available of the proposed annex area: https://oad6100.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/imageryviewer/index.html?appid=cfb1ec45d3b944fabb5632684d7ab62e
For any questions related to this, contact EMS Chief Joshua A. Krull at joshua.krull@osageamb.net or contact the business office by calling 573-897-0044.