Kane County Hospital has halted ambulance service to nearby Arizona over apparent difficulties in securing the required permission from Arizona authorities to serve the adjacent state.
The turn of events has prompted consternation in the area along the Utah-Arizona state line and calls into question the availability of emergency medical services on the Arizona side of the border.
“If a helicopter can get to them, that is the only option,” said Kurt Loveless, CEO of Kane County Hospital. If a car accident were to occur on U.S. 89 or U.S. 89A between Utah and the Lees Ferry area of Arizona, “you have no ambulance coverage, no ground ambulance coverage.”
Loveless said Kanab County Hospital emergency service providers have served the abutting portions of Arizona at the request of officials from the Arizona Department of Public Safety, the National Park Service and the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office for some 40 years. Given limited ambulance service options on the Arizona side of the border, the Utah ambulances have been available to assist with emergencies on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, at the Wave in northern Arizona and in Fredonia, Arizona, and other communities.
Arizona authorities, meanwhile, say there are other emergency service providers in Arizona to fill the gap, notwithstanding the worries of Loveless and others. The Colorado City and Page fire departments can serve the Fredonia area, and the ambulance service operating out of the Flagstaff Medical Center to the south in Flagstaff, Arizona, could also assist, the Arizona Department of Health Services said in a statement. “In addition to the ground ambulance providers, there are several air ambulance providers able to service the area when needed,” reads the statement.
The issue came to a head just last month after Kane County Hospital officials encountered numerous roadblocks in trying to secure a certificate of necessity from the Arizona Department of Health Services, as required of ambulance operators. The hospital has been attempting to complete the required paperwork for three years to obtain a certificate, so far to no avail, and has recently learned that it could face penalties from Arizona if it continues to operate without the necessary documentation.
That led to the decision to halt service, at least for the time being. The Arizona Department of Health Services, for its part, said in its statement that it works with entities seeking certification.
“Lees Ferry, Jacob Lake, North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Fredonia, Arizona — all of those places are not served by anyone. No one has ever applied for a certificate of need except for us and (Arizona officials) are doing everything to stall that from happening and making it not happen,” Loveless said.
A post from Wednesday on the hospital’s Facebook page paints the situation in dramatic terms. “40 years of ambulance service to Fredonia and surrounding areas comes to a screeching halt,” it reads, in part.
The Arizona Department of Health Services statement, by contrast, didn’t weigh in on whether the turn of events represents a serious situation, focusing on the range of alternative options available in the absence of service from Kane County Hospital. Apart from northern Arizona ambulance operators, it said fire departments without ambulances and police can transport people needing medical care. Moreover, out-of-state ambulances can operate in Arizona if responding “to a major catastrophe or emergency.”
The Kane County Hospital is publicly owned, part of an independent special district, and Kane County Commissioner Celeste Meyeres has been following the turn of events.
“It’s not ideal when seconds count in saving people’s lives,” Meyeres said. The inability of Kane County ambulances to travel into Arizona “almost certainly will involve a delay in service.”
Moreover, Kim Nuttall, director of human resources for Kane County Hospital, noted the steep cost differential of transporting those in medical emergencies via helicopter and ambulance — some $25,000 versus $2,000. Colorado City, Arizona, has an ambulance service provider, she noted, but it can typically only respond to emergencies within the city due to staffing levels.
Coconino County officials in Arizona were to hold a meeting in Fredonia later Thursday to discuss the situation and possible workarounds to providing ambulance service on the Arizona side of the border in the area, Meyeres said.