The Boulder City Council approved a $25,000 grant from the Montana Health Care Foundation to fund an interim ambulance service manager position. Jack Trethewey, an experienced advanced EMT who served for many years as a professional firefighter in Havre, was hired by the City of Boulder for this role, effective on April 1. He will be the overall manager of the ambulance service and will work with volunteer ambulance co-directors Molly Carey and Michele St. George to provide what City Council member Drew Dawson considers “much-needed relief.”
“It’s been difficult for [Carey] and [St. George] to keep up with all the requirements while working full-time jobs,” Dawson said in a Feb. 21 City Council meeting. Dawson said Trethewey will bring new expertise and new energy to the ambulance service. This hire, Dawson said, is an opportunity to upgrade the current ambulance service and help it provide first-rate emergency medical services for Boulder and the surrounding area.
In the February meeting Dawson said the Boulder Ambulance Service has suffered from a lack of volunteers that has taxed the service. Both the service leadership and staff are worn out trying to provide an excellent level of service to the community. With the addition of leadership and staffing, the ambulance service will work toward 24-hour per day, seven-day-a-week coverage.
This new position was made possible by the Montana Health Care Foundation and St. James Hospital. St. James Hospital Foundation requested funds for Boulder’s interim ambulance service manager, who is now ready to assume leadership of Boulder Ambulance Service, work two days a week in Boulder taking calls, and help Boulder and the surrounding area prepare for eventual entry into an ambulance district.
As interim ambulance service manager, Trethewey will oversee the management and operations of Boulder Ambulance Service by working closely with the existing and future staff; work on, and with, the Boulder Ambulance Service at least two days and nights per week, including responding to calls and providing on-site mentoring to ambulance service personnel. He will also improve initial education, continuing education and management of Boulder Ambulance service and Boulder/Basin area EMTs, including coordination with St. Peter’s Hospital Ambulance Service, A-1 Ambulance Service and Jefferson Valley Ambulance District.
In addition, Trethewey will work with the Boulder ambulance crew on policies and procedures, including call schedules and mutual aid agreements with neighboring ambulance services. He will assess the status of Boulder Ambulance Service equipment and supplies and work with ambulance service staff and city officials to update and/or replace equipment as needed, and will organize equipment and supplies in the ambulance and ambulance barn.
Another key role of Trethewey’s is establishing working relations with the Jefferson Valley Ambulance District and working on plans for joining the district. There are many other aspects of the job, which Dawson said will evolve in cooperation with the staff of the Boulder Ambulance, the City Council and Mayor Rusty Giulio.
When he is not working in Boulder, Trethewey serves as the Service Manager of Jefferson Valley EMS and Rescue in Whitehall.
