At Monday night’s city council meeting RVFD Chief Herbie Vaughan and several volunteer firefighters were invited to speak on the ambulance situation. Vaughan said it has gotten better but still needs work.
Heath Sedlacek, operations manager at American Medical Response (AMR) also spoke about the different ways AMR can help. According to Sadlacek, “About 25 to 30% of all 911 medical calls are not emergencies and AMR is going to set up a nurse navigation or telehealth plan which will reduce the number of ambulance calls needed.”
A 911 call will then be transferred to a nurse or doctor to assess the situation and is able to give advice or prescriptions until the caller can get to their doctor the following day.
Sedlacek also reported that he is increasing pay for the AMR staff. The entire problem is related to lack of staff. He said that AMR is down three full-time medics and he has received no applications for several months.
The city council is going to amend the city’s contract with AMR after forming a committee to make suggestions of changes which need to be made. The mayor, city manager and both the fire and police departments will be involved in making recommendations.
Dr. Denise Monizingo, RISD superintendent, also spoke about the schools’ need for better communication from the city about water main breaks and road closures. “We have 1400 kids and 220 staff members who need to know about these things in a timely manner,” Monzingo said.
Rockdale Police Department Chief Jerry Meadors said anyone in the city can sign up for “Code Red” alerts in Milam County. Go to milamcounty.net to sign up.
The city council also voted in a new waste collection service, BVR Waste and Recycling (bigcompany.com) based in Brenham. Blake Brannon, president of BVR was there to receive the contract which begins in January.
Brannon said: “I want to work as closely with the city as I can to make sure every need is met. I want BVR to be part of this community.” And he proved that by offering Vision Historic Preservation Foundation’s campaign manager, Curah Beard, $8,000 for a series of jazz events which will be held at The 1895 (old city hall).
Beard was there to ask the city for some HOT funds (hotel/motel taxes) which were also approved by the council.
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