Elmwood Township is considering upgrading from basic to advanced life support (ALS) through the township’s fire and rescue department. ALS services would improve emergency response times in the township for patients in critical condition, but to cover the costs of training responders, the township will need to pass a new millage in August.
Elmwood Fire and Rescue EMS Coordinator Kathrine Dunklow presented a proposal to switch to ALS to the township board at a June 18 special meeting. Dunklow said that transitioning to ALS would allow her department to train their emergency medical technicians (EMTs) as paramedics and hire a full-time EMS director.
To support this transition, the fire and rescue department is asking for a millage of 1.2 mills.
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According to Dunklow’s presentation, this millage rate would bring in approximately $550,000 in property taxes. This could fund the hiring and staffing of three paramedics and an EMS director, plus the education and wage costs associated with sending EMTs to paramedic school.
Township Supervisor Jeff Shaw said that staff are working on the proposal language, and the township board will consider approving the millage request at their July 8 regular meeting. If voters pass the proposal on the Aug. 6 election ballot, then Elmwood Fire and Rescue will begin the transition to ALS on Jan. 1, 2025.
At paramedic school, Elmwood EMTs will learn to “provide complex advanced care to patients requiring specialty interventions,” including new life-saving interventions and more medication options, Dunklow’s presentation says.
Dunklow said there were 514 calls for service in Elmwood in 2023, and EMS responders transported 324 patients last year. Of these, 83 patients required an ALS response. Since Elmwood Fire and Rescue can’t provide ALS services, they’ve relied on other agencies like Mobile Medical Release (MMR) in Traverse City.
Elmwood has contracted MMR to provide ALS transport at a rate of $250 per intercept. However, MMR was not always available for ALS responses last year. On these occasions, Elmwood relied on other agencies, like the Traverse City or Suttons Bay-Bingham fire departments, which already have ALS response, or transported patients with BLS units if no intercepting agencies were available.
If voters pass the millage, Elmwood will no longer pay $250 per intercept to MMR and would start earning revenue from billing ALS patients. Elmwood Fire and Rescue estimates that this would bring in $30,000 per year in revenue.
Also at the mid-June special session, the Elmwood township board accepted a $13,000 proposal from Beckett and Raeder to develop a conceptual site plan for Cherry Bend Park improvements. Shaw said that this is part of the township’s plans for a new multiuse trail on Cherry Bend Road.
The Elmwood Township board wants to complete this trail before construction of the M-22 roundabout starts in 2026. Township officials believe that the trail will run along the south side of Cherry Bend Road from the M-22 intersection to Pickwick Court and onto Claremont Drive and Avondale Lane before arriving at Cherry Bend Park.
