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Lakes Region EMS ought to be situated for the future in its new operations base in North Branch.  Touring the facility in an open house event last week,  it was clear that long range planning went into the remodeling of the defunct Topline Automotive call center and warehouse.

 There’s offices that are roughed-in and EMT dorm spaces expansion will fill in over the years.  There’s plenty of storage for supplies and the garage space in the old parts warehouse can easily house six to eight ambulance rigs.  

Tour Guide Adam Donahue said the EMS organization kept the potential for growth in mind in remodeling the building on Fletcher Avenue.  

Topline and the Chisago County Public Health and Human Services satellite office building are the only two sites that have been developed in this section of the North Branch city-owned business park.

When Topline went belly-up it was actually good timing for Lakes Region, which was crammed into a smaller facility a couple miles away. In the foreclosure process the bank sold what was about a $2 million building to construct,  to Lakes Region EMS for about $900,000;  and also took ownership of the old EMS facility in the industrial park for about $300,000...meaning the impressive new EMS headquarters was acquired for approximately $600,000.

Plus-- Chisago county’s public health operations are directly across the street.  Should there ever be a need for a command center in the event of a mass epidemic or biologic contamination event, the proximity of these two organizations to each other is beneficial.

The lessons learned from out-growing the last Lakes Region EMS facility have been incorporated into this new facility.  

Donahue pointed out sleeping rooms for the 24/7 operation now share a simple walk-through bathroom. Staff gathering spaces are sun-filled and equipped with the necessities right at hand.  There’s a flow to this facility whereas the old one was chopped into little cubicles.

Training amenities are vastly improved -- like the 80-person seating in a classroom on the upper level. Donahue said sheriff personnel have already utilized the space to get all deputy candidates on an eligibility list, together, in one room.  

There are two “Board Rooms” that the public can reserve for meeting use for free.  (Call Lakes Region and talk to Denise to reserve.)

The new “simulation room” includes a big screen for viewing the simulation mannequin’s responses to care.

Instruction is done on the training dummy,  lying on his own gurney, who can cough, has a pulse and is programmed to present a number of “symptoms” and responds to good and bad handling by trainees.

Monitors posted on the main floor show locations and movements of ambulance rigs within the primary service area, so supervision and tracking is continuous.  Colored boxes show if a rig is standing at one of the remote stops in the south end of the county, or if a rig is in action.

Any ambulance with Lakes Region might be responding anywhere from the north part of Polk County in Wisconsin, as far east as Milltown, or the primary service area covering all of the general Chisago County region.

(North Ambulance has a base in Wyoming for its primary service area and Allina territory borders to the north.)


 

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