New ambulance comes in $10,000 under budget
Shackelford County Hospital District directors learned that a new ambulance approved at the February meeting will cost about $10,000 less than expected.
Longtime ambulance service employee Chad Havens, who oversees general maintenance of the local fleet along with his medical duties, reported at Monday night’s session that he toured the Frazer plant in Houston last week.
The purpose for Havens’ Houston visit was actually to finalize the specifications for the vehicle, which will be a 2019 Dodge Ram 3500 diesel chassis with a customized “box.”
Frazer’s bid for the new ambulance was $199,775, but after all the state requirements and local requests had been met, including a board-ordered Stryker “Powerload” mechanism, the unit ended up totalling $189,635, a little more than $10,000 less than the amount budgeted.
A required letter of intent to purchase the vehicle was signed Monday night and sent to Frazer on Tuesday.
The new ambulance will replace one of the two 2009 models owned by the district. A 2013 ambulance will remain in service.
Health Insurance
Monica Weatherly from Insurance Partners of Texas brought three choices for SCHD healthcare insurance from the Texas Municipal League, and board members opted to step up to a lower “out-of-pocket” for employees.
Staying on the same plan would have meant a 6.2 percent increase with a $4,000 out-of-pocket, going up from $532 to $573 per month for each full-time employee. Going to $3,000 was a difference of only about $9 a month per employee, and board members decided that the slight increase would be a good benefit.
The only change in the plan was to add lab and x-ray benefits, as long as the services are performed “on-site” in the doctor’s office or clinic. The extra services had been requested by employees.
The new TML plan will be $582 per month.
Other Business
•Pharmacist Eric Neal delivered the Sanders Drug Store report, stating that although totals were down for February, they were on an upswing now.
•Sanders employee Mary Boland had requested to be placed on the agenda, but was unable to attend the meeting.
