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March 28, 2024 3:07 am
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Moapa Valley Fire District Allowed To Strike Out On Its Own

By VERNON ROBISON

Moapa Valley Progress

It has been a long time coming, but the Moapa Valley Fire District (MVFD) has finally made a break from Clark County Fire Department and has taken its place as an independent local entity.

The Clark County Commission, in a meeting held June 18, voted to appoint an indendent MVFD Chief as well as a new Medical Director for the district. Logandale resident Stephen Neel was appointed as MVFD Fire Chief and Dr. Ryan Hodrick, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was contracted as the district’s first Medical Director.

The creation of these positions will allow the district to now function entirely independent of Clark County Fire Department (CCFD).
“The Commissioners vote, two weeks ago was the last piece we needed,” said Chief Neel in a report made at a meeting of the Moapa Valley Town Advisory Board on Wednesday last week. “Now we are able to be completely separated in our Emergency Medical Services (EMS).”

Neel has actually been operating as the unofficial MVFD Chief since January of this year when the district’s local advisory board voted to completely reorganize the district leadership and add the position. But the role was not official until the Commission, acting as the elected Board of Fire Commissioners of MVFD, made the final appointment.

Before serving as District Chief, Neel was Chief of Overton Station #74. He has worked as a professional paramedic for 13 years. He worked for seven years as a Park Ranger at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area where he started an EMS program to provide service at the Lake. Currently, he works as a Ranger for the Las Vegas Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management.

The new district chief position is currently a volunteer position without pay.
In an interview last week, Neel explained that having an appointed Chief for MVFD has freed the district from a lot of administrative complexity associated with the much larger CCFD.
“It has already streamlined the process of how things get done,” Neel said.

For example, the purchasing process is much more efficient, he said. “When we order medical supplies, we now receive them within just a couple of days,” Neel said. “Going through the county it took a month and a half before we would get our stuff.”

The process of training district volunteers will also be much simpler now, Neel said. The district will be more flexible to develop it’s own training plan based on its unique needs, he said. Training can be done locally rather than volunteers having to travel to Las Vegas. And the district can work with expert instructors, who already live in the community, rather than being required to bring out CCFD trainers.

The separation also allows the local Advisory Board to set common-sense policies that suit the community rather than being forced to comply with CCFD policies meant for urban areas, Neel said.

For example, the district recently implemented a Rapid Response Vehicle program. This allows a qualified MVFD volunteer to respond alone to EMS calls. The volunteer can keep a district rescue vehicle with them wherever they are while they are on call. If an EMS call comes in, they can respond immediately rather than having to report to the station to wait for a second responder.
“This has already reduced our response times significantly since its implementation a couple of months ago,” Neel said.

Neel explained that the district had been trying to implement the Rapid Response program for many years. But requests for it had always been rejected because CCFD had claimed that Southern Nevada Health District policy required at least two people to respond to every EMS incident, Neel said.

“That was just an interpretation of policy on the county’s part,” Neel said. “Once we went down and talked to the health district folks in person, we explained our unique situation. We told them how this would speed up our response. They said, ‘Why would we say no to that if it will better service your community.’ That was all it took was to put forth the effort and communicate the need.”

Neel said that the appointment of Hodrick as Medical Director was also a game-changer for MVFD.

Hodrick practices emergency medicine in Albuquerque, but he also has a strong background and presence in southern Nevada. He frequently works as a travelling physician in Nevada’s rural hospitals and clinics. Hodrick completed his residency at University Medical Center in Las Vegas. During that time, he assisted the Medical Director of Lake Mead National Recreation Area, providing EMS training and support there.

As MVFD Medical Director, Hodrick will oversee the EMS program at the fire district, Neel said. MVFD paramedics and EMTs will operate under his license. Hodrick will also be available to local responders by telephone for consult 24/7 as needed.Hodrick will review all reports made on local EMS calls and offer recommendations. He will develop and conduct special training to district volunteers in person, based on the needs he sees in those reports, Neel said.

Hodrick is contracted for this service at the amount of $12,000 per year.
“He is a resource that we just really didn’t have under the county,” Neel said of Dr. Hodrick.

One other added benefit is that both the Medical Director and the MVFD Chief will have seats on the Southern Nevada Medical Advisory Board. This regional body formulates regional policy regarding Emergency Medical Services.
“We will be able to bring up specifics to our community before that board,” Neel said. “That will be a huge help.”

The newly established independence for MVFD has been in the process over the past 18 months or so. District fire chiefs and board members have worked with Clark County Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick during that time on a painstaking transition pulling the district away from CCFD oversight.

“The Commissioner was hesitant at first because she wanted to make sure that we could make the budget work and could remain solvent as a district in providing the services needed,” Neel said. “We have had to prove ourselves over time.”

But during the past 18 months, the MVFD board has gradually taken control of its budget. Last year, even with some major capital expanditures totalling about $450,000, the board was still able to fully fund its operating budget and end with a surplus of around $250,000.
“We have been very happy with our first year,” Neel said.

Neel fully credited Kirkpatrick for the success. He expressed appreciation to her for giving the local entity a chance to get started on its own.

“Marilyn has been the only commissioner in the nearly 60-year history of the district who has actually listened to our needs and backed us in the effort to strike out on our own,” Neel said. “She put her neck on the line and took a chance on us. She needs to be recognized for that. This would not have been possible without her.”

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