MOSES LAKE — Last week, the Moses Lake City Council voted to accept a $108,000 grant from the Association of Washington Cities to help the city avoid the cost of sending out ambulance crews when medical help is not really required.

According to Moses Lake Fire Chief Brett Bastian, the MLFD emergency medical service responded to 4,050 calls in 2021, of which 1,012 did not require transporting anyone. Under current Medicare rules, Bastian said ambulance calls in which no one is transported cannot be billed, and those runs cost the city roughly $1.4 million that cannot be recouped.

“If the call volumes continue, we will need even more than the two new firefighters we’ve asked for,” Bastian told the city council. “We’ve seen an increase in EMS patient calls, and it’s 20% higher than it was two years ago.”

Bastian told council members that many of the non-transport calls come from the same frequent callers.

“There are a few callers who are lonely and looking for someone to talk to,” he said.

The grant would help the city establish a Community Assistance Referrals and Education Services program that would reach out to frequent callers and simply listen to their concerns and even engage with them, helping people who are lonely find someone to talk to that doesn’t involve calling 911.

The program would require hiring a new staff person who would not be a uniformed firefighter, Bastian said. He also estimates a cost savings of roughly $130,000 if implemented.

“If we are dispatched, we have a duty to respond,” Bastian said.

“Fire and ambulance is a kind of social service,” said Deputy Mayor Deanna Martinez, a nurse who described the CARES program as a much-needed program for the city.

Two of the seven members of the city council — David Eck and newly appointed member Dave Skaug — voted against accepting the grant.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.