The EMS Affiliation Agreement for Jasper County was formally adopted this week by the Board of Supervisors. Jasper County EMS Association and Jasper County Emergency Management Agency worked together to build the affiliation, which creates common protocols, technical data exchange, a central supply service, and a shared medical director position.  Jasper County Sheriff’s Department Lieutenant Mike Gunsaulus says the agreement also helps the smaller EMS service providers meet a state requirement.

“Part of the start of this is the state requires that you have so many calls per year or you have to affiliate with somebody. This covers everybody in the county, now all those calls are counted, and that’s how the state will see it. Reasnor and Mingo are not meeting what the state wants for the threshold.”

The Jasper County Board of Supervisors are funding the first year start-up costs associated with the affiliation. Those costs are about $60,000, which includes $40,000 for the setup of the central supply and inventory system, and $10,000 each for the medical director and development of the protocol app. Members of the Jasper County EMS Affiliation will determine how to pay for the ongoing costs after the initial year. Those annual operating costs are estimated to be $20,000. The medical director’s annual salary would be $10,000, while $7,500 is the anticipated cost for maintenance of the protocol app, and $2,500 is the yearly projected cost for inventory software.