Belmond ambulance service warned again for not having enough staff on hand

BELMOND — A Wright County ambulance service has been warned a second time for not having enough staff on hand to meet state regulations.

The Iowa Bureau of Emergency Medical and Trauma Services issued the citation and warning to the Belmond Ambulance Service for failing to comply with standards for hospital-to-hospital transportation of a patient with one currently certified emergency medical care provider and one driver, and the the repeated failure to meet the requirements or standards of the state’s Emergency Medical Services law.

According to documents filed with the board, a member of the service transported a flight crew and patient in the Belmond ambulance on June 28th without meeting the minimum staffing requirements. The incident involved a patient who was accompanied on an ambulance-transportation call by a life-flight crew that had been grounded due to the weather, and while that flight crew was well qualified to assist with the patient’s transportation to Des Moines, they were not members of the Belmond staff, which needed to have its own employee on the call.

The service was issued a formal letter of warning in July 2022 for violating the state’s minimum staffing requirements.

Belmond Ambulance Service EMS director Monica Halverson told the Iowa Capital Dispatch that both incidents were reported to the bureau by the Belmond Ambulance Service itself as part of a request for regulatory guidance.