County contracts with Lincoln Ambulance for DUI blood draws

Drivers in the Lincoln area arrested for driving under the influence won't have a chance to sober up before having their blood drawn, thanks to a new contract approved by the Lewis and Clark County Commissioners last week.

Commissioner Susan Good Geise told the Upper Blackfoot Community Council that the commission approved the contract with the Lincoln Volunteer Ambulance to provide local on-call blood draws for alcohol testing, rather than forcing deputies or Highway Patrol Troopers to drive suspects to Helena for the procedure.

Geise said according to Capt. Kevin Wright with the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office, the human body can process - on average - six ounces of wine, a 12-ounce beer or an ounce of whiskey in about an hour.

"If someone gets arrested here on suspicion of a DUI, you must wait to get the person to Helena, get them admitted to the emergency room ... by that time blood alcohol is steadily diminishing," Geise said. As a result, she explained, the person may test as being less drunk than they were at the time of the arrest.

"For public safety, those tests will be able to be performed here in Lincoln," Geise said.

Under the new procedure, the deputy or trooper who makes a DUI arrest will contact dispatch in Helena who will then make a phone call to the person assigned to the LVA's Sprint Unit. The EMT assigned to the Sprint Unit will meet the officer at the LVA ambulance barn next door to Parker Medical Center to perform the blood draw. Utilizing the LVA's Sprint Unit capabilities allows dispatchers to contact just the one member of the LVA, rather than paging out an entire ambulance crew.

UBVCC Chairman Zach Muse, who is Lincoln's Fire Chief and an Emergency Medical Responder, called it a win-win situation that tackles the public safety issue of DUIs more efficiently and that helps keep law enforcement officers in town, rather than shuttling DUI suspects to Helena.

"It's usually on busy weekends when this is happening... and a lot of other stuff is going down in town that can't be addressed, or they have to send another deputy up here to take care of it," he said. "It speeds up the process tremendously, and with the jail being full and DUI being a misdemeanor, they're coming home the next morning. This gets them through the system, they're home anyway and the process can continue."

Geise credited Lincoln Volunteer Ambulance President Aaron Birkholz with a "terrific job" during the Commissioners meeting in Helena.

"We're really pleased," she said. "Mr. Birkholz did an awesome job today talking about the different capabilities that Lincoln has now."