Sumpter emergency response unit shelved temporarily

Powder River Rural District, which has a station less than two miles from Sumpter, is filling in

In the meantime, the Powder River Rural Fire District, whose station is less than two miles from Sumpter, will handle medical emergencies inside the city limits, said Jerry Boyd, who manages Baker County’s Consolidated Dispatch Center.

That stopgap measure should be sufficient on a temporary basis because neither the Sumpter nor the Powder River unit is called on frequently, Boyd said.

Both agencies are run solely by volunteers, said Rod Isaacson, a Sumpter City Council member.

Quick response units (QRUs) are vehicles that emergency responders drive to scenes to treat patients, but the vehicles are not ambulances and so are not equipped or certified to transport patients to a hospital.

Sumpter and Powder River each has one QRU.

From 2007 to 2009, the Sumpter QRU, which is responsible for calls within the city limits only, was summoned an average of seven times per year, Boyd said.

Powder River averaged 11 QRU calls per year during that three-year period.

“The only time there would be an issue is if there were two calls simultaneously, one in the city, which the Sumpter unit would normally handle, and one outside,” Boyd said. “That’s not likely given the low call volumes.”

Isaacson agreed.

“We have enough people to cover the city,” he said. “The city is in good hands, and people don’t need to worry.”

Baker City Fire Chief Jim Price said both the Sumpter and Powder River QRUs “do a good job.”

“They provide a valuable service,” Price said.

Sumpter’s Fire Department is still functioning, and it can respond to blazes within the city limits, Boyd said.

Both the fire department and QRU are city departments overseen by the Sumpter City Council.

Sumpter’s QRU was temporarily put out of service about two weeks when Dr. Gary DeVos, who’s the agency’s physician adviser, withdrew his authorization, Isaacson said.

“All (Emergency Medical Services) must be under the supervision of a physician,” Boyd said.

Isaacson said DeVos “wants us to update our protocol,” which Price described as “a basic set of patient care guidelines.”

“There was no problem with the services being provided to people,” Isaacson said. “It’s more of a paperwork issue. We’ll get this problem taken care of.”

Mark Bennett, Baker County’s emergency manager, concurred that the work that Sumpter’s QRU volunteers have done is not the issue.

“We’ve not had any concerns about patient care or response,” he said.

Price said he has offered Sumpter a copy of Baker City’s protocol, which is current.

Bennett said DeVos, who could not be reached for comment, volunteers to serve as physician adviser for many of Baker County’s rural fire departments and districts.

Price said Baker City does pay DeVos for his services, although Price said the annual fee of about $3,000 is considerably smaller than some comparably sized cities pay their adviser.

La Grande, for instance, pays its adviser $6,000 per year.