By Courtney Hessler, The Herald-Dispatch
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — While the future of emergency medical service across West Virginia is trending positively, the state EMS director said there’s more work to be done.
The testimony was made Dec. 6 to the Joint Committee on Volunteer Fire Departments and Emergency Medical Services. A subcommittee of the committee had met to re-evaluate a bill that failed in the 2021 session to increase money first responders to receive from the state’s Fire Protection Fund. That came after a bill asking for such failed to pass the 2022 West Virginia legislative session.
Before the full committee meeting, a subcommittee met to take a second look at SB 420, a failed bill from 2022 that attempted to increase surcharges on fire and casualty insurance policies by 0.45% to 1%, with the funds being split among fire departments across the state. The subcommittee added a clause to add EMS as a beneficiary of the 0.45% increase.
Jody Ratliff, director of the West Virginia Office of Emergency Medical Services, said after nine months of being in his position, he believes the state coordination of EMS services is on the right track…
