FILE - GJFD Jonathan Badger firefighter/emt and paramedic Daniel Giner-Gomez leave on a call for a diabetic emergency.
The Grand Junction Fire Department is now providing ambulance service in the Central Orchard Mesa and Lands End fire protection districts after ambulance service within the districts was found to not be up to standards.
The Mesa County Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution at their April 9 meeting finding the Lands End and Orchard Mesa ambulance service areas “underserved.”
The two districts are located in eastern Mesa County and are part of the Mesa County Fire Authority.
“Over the past two years, Mesa County EMS has observed a decline in capability of the licensed EMS provider that covers the southeast portion of Mesa County,” Mesa County Emergency Services Director Andy Martsolf said in an email Tuesday.
Martsolf told the County Commissioners the EMS provider has “insufficient EMS personnel to maintain coverage for medical emergencies originating in those areas.”
Martsolf said more than 80% of calls originating in those jurisdictions required some form of aid from a neighboring organization.
“The intent of mutual aid is not to provide coverage for a significant portion of calls that originate in an area,” Martsolf said.
Martsolf said finding the area “underserved” enacts a provision in the county’s EMS resolution that allows the Grand Junction Fire Department to become the primary ambulance service provider for that area, based on Mesa County’s 2004 EMS resolution.
GJFD will be able to bill for calls that they go out on, Martsolf said, but that typically doesn’t cover all the costs.
Andy Martsolf, Director of Emergency Services
The affected areas produced 210 calls for service in 2023, Martsolf said, which would be about a 1% increase in call volume for GJFD.
Mesa County Fire Authority Board Chairman Wayne DeGesualdo said the department’s chief has had his ability to function as an EMT removed, but the board hadn’t heard why.
“Usually there’s a disciplinary process where you’re informed why you were taken off,” DeGesualdo said.
DeGesualdo said MCFA has met with the Grand Junction and Clifton fire departments about providing service in the area.
DeGesualdo said the board wants to get its capability back so it can provide ambulance service for that area.
“Our goal is to be able to provide for our citizens. And we do have numerous volunteers either in EMT school or going through their process of being approved by county EMS, but that just doesn’t happen overnight,” DeGesualdo said. “Of course, this problem didn’t occur overnight either, and we’re well aware of that.”
