Eyes on Stillwater Medical as Blackwell tables ambulance subscription

Editor's Note: This story has been edited from the published edition to clarify and correct certain information.

The Blackwell City Council put the proverbial ball in Stillwater Medical Center’s court last Thursday night at the February 6 meeting of the Blackwell City Council, Blackwell Municipal Authority, and Blackwell Facilities Authority, opting to table the long-debated ambulance subscription service in favor of taking the entire concept back to the table with Stillwater Medical Center (SMC).

The SMC healthcare system spoke at January’s lengthy council meeting in regards to the subscription, with staff having questions about the subscription’s terms and conditions while Dr. Jeffrey Shuart praised the concept, suggesting that it apply to businesses as well. 

Several points were addressed through the night’s meeting, including answering questions poised by the community as to why Fire and EMS staff weren’t required to live within Blackwell city limits. 

City Manager Jerry Wieland addressed the council with Fire Chief Cory Hanebrink at the podium, providing context for the need of such a service. 

Hanrbink explained, with details from City Attorney Bryce Kennedy, that when Stillwater Medical transitioned to a “Rural Emergency Hospital” (REH) as a cost-saving measure, the change meant that SMC would no longer offer extended care past a certain amount of time, meaning patients would need to be transferred to other facilities.

This, in turn, put an enormous strain on Blackwell’s ambulance service, catapulting runs (fire and ambulance) from under a thousand a year to over 2,000, which meant more wear and tear on Blackwell EMS vehicles, hundreds of hours of overtime, and burnout among the ambulance drivers and EMS staff. 

“18 months ago, Stillwater Medical became an REH Hospital which put a tremendous strain on Chief Hanebrink’s department, taking their transfers to a whole new level,” explained City Manager Wieland to the Council. 

“We went to Stillwater Medical- myself, Chief Hanebrink, our attorney Bryce Kennedy, and CFO Russ Meacham- and tried to figure out how we could handle this situation, to subsidize this strain on our ambulance services  even going so far as to propose an ambulance service between ourselves and Perry, both being REH hospitals under Stillwater Medical.” 

Wieland continued: 

“We were told, in Stillwater Medical’s terms, to go back to Blackwell and ‘figure it out’ on our own.” 

Wieland stated that he understood the public’s concerns and had taken several calls from concerned citizens about the issue, but that this proposed subscription service was the result of all other options being exhausted at the moment. 

Chief Hanebrink stated that the proposed service would pay for three new EMS staff which was vital in maintaining enough personnel to handle transfers, fire calls, and other situations at any given time. 

“Back in the day, our staff were required to live in Blackwell. State Law dictates that we cannot enforce living restrictions unless we have a population of less than 5,000” said Hanebrink. 

“Now, we have guys that work a 24-hour shift, go home to Stillwater, Ponca, wherever, then get called back in for a transfer, have to drive to Oklahoma City or Wichita, then that 24-hour shift becomes a 36-hour shift. They get burned out- we’ve recently had two leave the department, I believe because of this burn-out,” explained Hanebrink. 

“Blackwell Fire is not a transfer service,” said Hanebrink. 

“In the past, we did transfers because they were less-frequent and we weren’t as overwhelmed. Doing transfers was fine when we had less than 1,000 calls a year. Now that number is either on the edge of, or over, 2,000.” 

Hanebrink reiterated that the hundreds of thousands of miles laying waste to their vehicles and burned out staff caused by the vast amount of transfers, combined with the day-to-day operations of the department as well as the regular calls for services (fires, wrecks, etc) were leaving the Blackwell Fire Department wrecked.

Councilman Richard Braden proposed that City Manager Wieland, Chief Hanebrink, and others approach Stillwater Medical one more time about a possible workaround before settling on the subscription service as a last resort. 

Wieland and City Attorney Kennedy stated that would not be an issue, and that they would speak to Stillwater Medical again before the item could be brought back in March. 

The tabled subscription service, modeled after similar programs across the state, would see single-family households would be charged $5 per month, while businesses and multi-unit residences would pay $10 per month. 

The funds would generate approximately $216,000 annually, which would be used to support Blackwell EMS operations, including the addition of up to three new emergency medical staff members.

The program would help improve response times and increase the likelihood that local EMS crews can handle emergency calls rather than relying on outside services.

If a subscriber has health insurance, their provider will be billed, but all deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses will be waived. For those without insurance, ambulance services will be provided at no cost. The program will cover all residents of a household and employees at commercial or industrial locations.

The subscription will include emergency ambulance transport, Medically necessary transport for non-life-threatening conditions, and transfers for medical purposes when justified.

Residents who do not have an electric account but live within the Blackwell EMS Response District can opt in by paying an annual fee—$60 for households and $120 for businesses.

City officials note that ambulance service availability will depend on EMS resources at the time of the call. If another ambulance provider responds instead of Blackwell EMS, the city will not reimburse subscribers for any costs incurred.