Northern Ozaukee gets its first paramedic

JOSH VAN NATTA is the first paramedic dedicated to serving northern Ozaukee County thanks to American Rescue Plan Act money through a county grant. Van Natta covers the villages and towns of Belgium and Fredonia, including the Waubeka area. Photo by Sam Arendt
A paramedic is dedicated to serving northern Ozaukee County for the first time in history.
Josh Van Natta was sworn in last month as a paramedic with his salary and benefits paid for with American Rescue Plan Act money through an Ozaukee County grant.
Van Natta serves the villages and towns of Fredonia and Belgium, including the Waubeka area.
The area has emergency medical technicians on call, but paramedics offer a higher level of service. They can provide oral medications, start IVs and use manual defibrillators.
Fredonia Fire Chief Brian Weyker said he would like to hire two more paramedics to have 24/7 coverage, but said questions loom about how much funding departments will receive through the grant.
The Fredonia, Belgium and Waubeka fire departments agreed to consolidate into the equivalent of one emergency medical service district. The private departments in Belgium and Waubeka are contracting with Fredonia’s department, which is part of village government.
Fire departments began to discuss mergers a few years ago, driven by former Sheriff Jim Johnson’s interest in shortening response times and a report on the county’s nine fire departments by the Wisconsin Policy Forum that encourages consolidation.
The Mequon and Thiensville departments formed the Southern Ozaukee Fire Department. Saukville and Grafton are in the process of consolidating.
Cedarburg and Port Washington have chosen to remain separate.
The county in April 2022 set aside $5 million of its $17.1 million federal ARPA money for hiring paramedics but later gave $1.3 million of the money to nonprofit organizations.
It has been more difficult than expected for the departments to hire and retain personnel, prompting County Administrator Jason Dzwinel to question whether the federal funds can be spent by the deadline set by the federal government. The money must be spent or contracted to be spent by the end of 2024.
Dzwinel recently proposed giving $2.325 million to the fire departments to use as needed.
Last week, the county Executive Committee suggested taking $660,000 in ARPA money from the county’s dispatch center project and give it to the fire departments, then replacing the funds with investment earnings from unspent ARPA money, initially slated to flow into the county’s general fund.
The proposal would increase money for the paramedics from $2.985 million to $3.024 million.
Fredonia would receive an increase from $425,000 to $648,000. Grafton’s total would go from $440,000 to $648,000 and Port Washington’s would bump from $400,000 to $432,000.
The Southern Ozaukee Fire Department’s share would drop from $920,000 to $648,000 and Saukville’s from $400,000 to $216,000.
County supervisors were slated to debate the amendment proposed by supervisors Joshua Haas, Michelle Godden, Tim McGuire, Scott Rishel and Marty Wolf on Wednesday morning, one day after a listening session was held to allow the public to weigh in on the matter.
The amendment addresses concerns that the Executive Committee’s recommendation rewarded the Southern Ozaukee Fire Department with a double share even though the intent of the county grants was to fund three full-time paramedics for each department.
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Wisconsin’s largest paid circulation community weekly newspaper. Serving Port Washington, Saukville, Grafton, Fredonia, Belgium, as well as Ozaukee County government. Locally owned and printed in Port Washington, Wisconsin.
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Port Washington, WI 53074
(262) 284-3494