Atlantic, IA— Following the success of the public measure to declare EMS an essential service in Cass County, an official with the Cass County EMS advisory council, today (Thursday), expressed their gratitude to the community. Dr. Elaine Berry, Chairperson and Cass County EMS Association Medical Director, said “Thank you for allowing us to continue to work together with a consistent and transparent funding source to support and promote the most cost-effective and efficient EMS system possible for our county going forward. We promise to do our very best to continue quality care for each other in our county.”

The council’s next steps include annually advising the county’s board of supervisors on the tax levy, which cannot exceed 75 cents per thousand, as well as deciding on the annual distribution of those tax dollars around the county.

The advisory council has seven votes, one from each of the volunteer services in the county. The representatives include Chairperson Elaine Berry, MD; Bob Reynolds, Paramedic (Atlantic); Brian Wendt, EMT (Anita); Madison Lund, EMT and Ericka Stender, Firefighter (Cumberland); Brad Amos, Paramedic and JC Wyman, EMT (Griswold); Julie Kline, Paramedic (Lewis); Josh Krause, EMT (Marne); and Alisa Kool, EMT (Massena).

Ric Hanson (photo)

Separately from the advisory council, the Cass County EMS Association will do ongoing work with the county board of supervisors, the hospital, and the city of Atlantic to work on developing the most cost-effective and efficient ways that EMS can be run in our county. Dr. Berry said “We have various ad hoc attendees to the meetings who do not vote but give input from various perspectives around the county including Steve Green from the board of supervisors, Erik Johnson, Cass County First Aid Program Coordinator, and Mike Kennon from Cass County Emergency Management.”