Longevity at Turkey Creek Fire Territory stands to increase with an option for employees to switch from the civil public employees retirement fund to the 77 PERF fund available exclusively to police and fire personnel.

The 77 PERF fund is being offered to current employees and will replace the Civil PERF in which they currently participate.

Firefighter personnel in Turkey Creek had the option of staying in the old PERF program or switching to the new one, which offers a significantly higher match rate. Nine opted to switch, Fire Chief Mickey Scott reported Thursday night, and four will stay.

During the regular meeting of the fire territory board of directors, Scott highlighted a few of the differences in the two programs. Civil PERF takes overtime into consideration when calculating benefits, while 77 looks only at salary and longevity.

Under 77, participants must be no older than 36 and pass physical and mental exams that have to be renewed yearly; a safety board must be set up; and in 77 PERF, a participant must have 20 years of service and be at least 55 years old to realize full benefits — a great deal longer than is required under Civil PERF.

Newly appointed board member Steve Snyder noted that although 77’s requirements are more stringent, and may limit the number of candidates to the local fire service, the trade-off is that once a firefighter is hired he or she is likely to remain for a longer period of time.

“That’s what a lot of departments are doing to try and hold their guys there,” Scott said. He also noted the unlike with Civil PERF, for 77 PERF employees the responsibility for paying disability doesn’t fall to the department.

“The only thing we’d pay is medical, no wages.” The department has been issued a case number by the Indiana Public Retirement System for its request to switch the indicated positions, and the request is currently being reviewed.

Several board members received questions regarding the change — many of which involved dates — but he noted that those have since been resolved.

Scott also said in his report that Turkey Creek Fire Territory is currently in talks with various sources regarding a significant, impending shift in the nature of emergency medical services.

The Affordable Care Act passed in 2010 is encouraging EMS to do more “mobile medical health care” than emergency response, such as making home visits to residents who have been discharged from the hospital; making medication runs for them; checking their welfare; and transporting them to follow-up visits if they cannot drive themselves.

“Basically, instead of EMS we’ll be community paramedics. We’ll make home visits, check on whether they have their medications, to cut down on hospital re-admissions. Hospital-based EMS are already starting, because the rate of pay percentage to hospitals drops way down when a patient is re-admitted within 30 days,” Scott said. “This will change the face of EMS in the next five years. I’m sure of it.”

Wisconsin, he noted, received a grant to reimburse EMS a small amount for each such run to check up on residents. “But what happens when that grant runs out? There are a lot of questions,” he said.

Other business discussed by the board included:

• The department is awaiting installation of an 8,000-watt generator for the radio repeater. Scott said last Wednesday’s power outages came close to taking down the repeater, which would have left the department without radio contact. Once installed, the generator will prevent that possibility.
• Construction continues on schedule with the Station 1 expansion.
• A paint issue with the 2012 Braun Ambulance will be addressed directly by the company. Braun has requested that the department deliver the ambulance to its Van Wert, Ohio, facility on March 28. Scott is working with the Braun dealer from which the unit was purchased to obtain a loaner vehicle for the duration of the repair.