Fort Atkinson looks at fining assisted living facilities for emergency calls

  • Source: Chippewa Herald
  • Published: 12/15/2016 04:14 AM

When officials in this Jefferson County city saw that many ambulance, fire and police calls were going to assisted living facilities, they took action. In September 2015, they adopted a temporary moratorium on new facilities or expansions, which remains in effect. The City Council is expected soon to consider an ordinance to establish $1,000 fines for preventable calls to assisted living centers. In any given month, 5 percent to 20 percent of emergency calls in the city of 12,400 people go to assisted living facilities, which have a total of about 500 beds, said Andy Selle, city engineer. “We’re spending a fairly significant amount of time on a very small segment of the population,” Selle said. “There’s concern (emergency services) can’t respond adequately to the needs of the community.”



Comments

We welcome comments from registered users. Comments are solely the responsibility of those who post them; their viewpoints are not endorsed by the Daily Dispatch and DailyDispatch.com. (read more)
Highlight
ship name
no comments have been added


FREE QUICK SUBSCRIBE
Sign up to subscribe to custom state Daily Dispatch emails for free

click to subscribe