Results find less conflict, support for ALS

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

Conflict between the volunteers of the Henning Ambulance Service has decreased over the past six months, at least that was the finding of a recent survey of the department.

During its regularly scheduled meeting last Monday night, the Henning City Council received the results of a survey of 18 members of the Henning Ambulance Service. A total of 14 volunteers responded to the survey, which found that 10 people stated there has been less conflict between Henning Ambulance volunteers since September 2021. Meanwhile, two people felt there was more conflict and two more felt there was the same amount of conflict. 

The survey came about after a recent investigation into the ambulance service. One of the determinations by the city council was to survey the current ambulance volunteers to get their feeling on the current status of the department. The hope was to also see if there were issues that needed to be addressed.

“It is also the overall consensus that the department moral has improved and the directors are working in the best capacity with the best interest of the department and staff. It is also our recommendation that any continued concerns regarding the investigation, survey results or department related to the survey results, be delegated to Kim and I together and we will make an appointment so we will not have somebody come to Kim, somebody come to myself.”

Darren Wiese, Henning Mayor

The survey itself was nine questions long and the results were reviewed by Wiese and city clerk/treasurer Kim Schroeder prior to the meeting. 

In addition to less conflict, survey findings included:

• Eight people said their concerns were being listened to and/or addressed by ambulance leaders. Three people said sometimes/depends, one person said no and two did not answer.

• Eight people said the ambulance directors are doing a professional job and showing strong leadership, while three people said sometimes/depends, two people said no and one person did not answer.

• Twelve people said they were confident in the training instructors selected, both locally and outsourced. Two people said sometimes/depends and no one answered no.

• A total of nine people said they were in favor of pursuing ALS or BLS status, while five people said no.

• Eleven people said they did not have a conflict with the Henning ambulance directors or volunteers, while two people were undecided and one person said yes to the question. 

The council accepted the findings of the survey, which included open ended questions about the strengths of the department, weaknesses of the ambulance service and an opportunity to share anything the volunteer would like the city council to know or be aware of within the department.