Brookshire tabbed to head county EMS

SANDPOINT — Gary Brookshire has been hired as the county's planned Emergency Medical Services department.

Bonner County commissioners approved the hire on Monday.

"I think he'll be able to get the situation organized," said commission Chairwoman Marcia Phillips.

Brookshire brings expertise, he knows the laws and he knows the people, she said.

He is currently a regional consultant for the Idaho EMS Bureau in Coeur d'Alene. The county is offering him $48,000 to serve as Bonner County's chief EMS officer, starting in October.

"I think he's going to be a great addition to the county," said Phillips.

The creation of a stand-alone EMS department in Bonner County is in line with a recommendation by The EMSSTAR Group, a panel of national experts which did a comprehensive analysis of the county's EMS system this spring.

Other EMSSTAR recommendations already implemented by the commission include parting ways with the city of Sandpoint for dispatch service and creating a taxing district to help fund EMS services in the county.

Establishing a taxing district and a county EMS agency were also the top two recommendations of a blue-ribbon committee of local EMS professionals appointed by the county commission. The committee was formed to identify solutions to the county's EMS crisis, which came to head when Big Sky Paramedics announced it had to reign in its coverage area because of a lack of funding.

County officials are still studying the best way to fund the new department since tax revenue from the district won't be available until January 2006. The EMS department is not a component of the county's 2004-05 budget, but Phillips said the county intends to reopen the spending plan in order to insert emergency funding.