Medical Lake offers up site for EMT base

After repairs, unused residence could serve as West Plains ambulance call center, driver housing if company agrees to lease

By RYAN LANCASTER

Staff Reporter

The city of Medical Lake is trying to locate American Medical Response closer for quicker response times by offering the ambulance provider a low-market lease on a city-owned building.

The unused building, located at 111 W. Brooks Road, was the caretaker's residence of the Ball and Dodd funeral home, property that was purchased by the city in 2002 for $175,000. The building sits just west of the old mortuary, now occupied by the Espanola/Medical Lake SCOPE (Sheriff Community Oriented Policing Effort) station.

For many years the city tried unsuccessfully to sell the buildings before allowing SCOPE to move into the main structure a few years ago. “I think we've resigned ourselves to the fact that SCOPE is going to occupy that building until they don't want to be there any longer,” City Administrator Doug Ross said. “They provide a great service to the city and, especially with us contracting police services to the county, it kind of makes sense.”

Ross said the city plans to make some minor repairs to the caretaker residence in order to attract AMR, which currently has a regional location at the Super 8 Motel off Exit 272 on Interstate 90.

The best scenario for the city would be to have an ambulance there and a team of emergency medical technicians on call there at the residence 24 hours a day, said Ross. The residence could either replace the Super 8 location or add another West Plains base site for AMR. “Whether that could happen, would happen or will happen – those are the questions we're asking,” he said.

Rocco Roncarati, AMR regional general manager, said there are several options that could bring an ambulance site closer to Cheney or Medical Lake, but a study is still underway and it might take up to six months for a decision to be made. “We have to analyze drive times and see if the building and location suits our needs and this hasn't been done yet,” he said.

The company is currently in contract negotiations with Spokane County, which is asking for quicker response times, a process that could add considerably to the timeline for any move, Roncarati said.

Once an agreement between AMR and the county has been made it still needs to be looked over by all fire departments and municipalities before being finalized.

Ross said if the ambulance provider ultimately chooses not to move into Medical Lake, they would still fix up the building to house a possible firefighter residency program that could help staff the volunteer fire department.

If all else fails, he said the city would likely try to sell the residence.

Currently, AMR does service Medical Lake in order to transport patients to hospitals, but the city's volunteer fire department are the first responders to medical emergencies.

Ross said about 75 percent of the fire department's emergency response calls are medical in nature and that all 16 firefighters are EMT certified.

Ryan Lancaster can be reached at [email protected].