LVA hopes SIREN Act grant program will prove helpful

An act included in the 2018 Farm Bill signed by President Donald Trump Dec. 20 could help the Lincoln Volunteer Ambulance replace some of its aging equipment.

The Supporting and Improving Rural EMS Needs (SIREN) Act of 2018 establishes an annual $10 million grant program for nonprofit or governmental emergency medical service agencies that serve residents in rural areas.

The bipartisan act, first introduced in the House of Representatives last April by Montana’s Republican Rep. Greg Gianforte and Rep. Dave Loebsack, a Democrat from Iowa, re-authorizes the grant funding established by the Rural Emergency Medical Service Training and Equipment Assistance Program. The original funding expired in 2006. The new funding is slated to last through 2023.

“Our rural EMS providers are the first line of care for Americans in more remote areas who face a medical emergency,” Gianforte said in a Dec. 20 press release. “The SIREN Act provides access to resources so that EMS providers in our rural areas have the training and equipment they need to get the job done."

The prospect of an additional source of grant funding is welcome news for the Lincoln Volunteer Ambulance.

“Rural ambulance is of huge importance,’ Aaron Birkholz, president of the LVA, said. “If you look at all the ambulances in Montana - all the volunteer agencies - most of them are rural and most of them are more than 30 minutes from a hospital. Without funding like this in small communities, there’s just no way to keep an ambulance going.”

Birkholz also appreciates that the program is specifically aimed at ambulance services like Lincoln’s.

“It's only for rural agencies that are nonprofit-type EMS agencies, so we fit perfectly into the category,” said. “It has a cap on the grant for a max of $200,000 with no more than a 10 percent match.”

Birkholz said the SIREN Act will provide the LVA with a second avenue to seek funding to replace their older ambulance, which was purchased in 2002 and is showing it's age.

“The only other grant we qualify for is the Montana Department of Transportation grant,” he said. “That is really hard because you have … 70-plus agencies fighting over a million dollars. Most of them need ambulances, so they put in for an ambulance and right there you’ve just wiped out the million dollars”

That’s not to say the SIREN Act grant program will be an easier grant to receive.

“We’re still kind of in the same boat…because you have several thousand agencies vying for $10 million,” he said.

Likewise, Birkholz said since the SIREN Act grant maxes out at $200,000, so even if they were to apply and be awarded the full amount, it would fall short of covering the entire cost of an ambulance, which run in the $220,000 range.

He said they would have to look at more cost-effective options, such as a two-wheel drive rather than four-wheel drive ambulance. "Both our ambulances right now are four-wheel drive. “For years Lincoln didn’t even have four wheel drive,” he said. “Up until, I think the blue ambulance, I don’t think they had a four wheel drive.”

They could also consider other styles of ambulances, such as the more European style van-type ambulances used in Missoula and Great Falls.

The grant program isn’t limited to new ambulances however. Agencies can also apply for funds for recruiting and retention, to train and license personnel and for other equipment purchases.

Birkholz said he’s not sure many people appreciate how much ambulance equipment costs.

Birkholz said the LVA is currently purchasing a second Lucas device, which maintains and monitors consistent chest compression on patients requiring prolonged CPR, at a cost of $35,000. It will be paid for in installments over seven years.

An updated heart monitor is priced at about $37,000, while the cots used in the ambulances are about $20,000 apiece.

It's still too early to find out the details of the SIREN Act grant program and what it has to offer, but Birkholz said LVA treasurer Laura Nicolai is researching the application process.

“We’re not finding out much information with the government closed down,” he said, adding she should be able to find out more once it opens back up.

“I imagine it’s still gonna be really hard to get it, but we’re still gonna try,” Birkholz said. “I’m just glad they were able to pass something for rural EMS agencies. Hopefully in the next five to seven years we can get something out of it.”