The emergency medical services in Winnebago County will be supported by a tax levy and potentially a personal income tax of the people. The initiative was started because of a lack of key personnel such as paramedics and emergency medical technicians in Buffalo Center and in Lake Mills.
The Emergency Medical Services Advisory Council that oversees and makes recommendations on the distribution of funds met in the Supervisors Chambers of the Winnebago County Courthouse. According to Forest City Administrator Daisy Huffman who sits on the committee, there have been some recommendations that will help benefit where potential weaknesses in staffing are.
Some of the concerns registered at the meeting were the number of paramedics that were needed to make sure that adequate treatment of patients was available in all parts of Winnebago County including the most rural of areas. This is compounded by the fact that the Forest City Ambulance Service is also serving portions of Worth County out of necessity and the Buffalo Center Ambulance Service is helping eastern portions of Kossuth County as well. This may leave the number of available paramedics for emergencies in Winnebago County at an extremely low number.
Huffman believes that there is still more work to do, but now there is an initial funding plan in place.
