Committee members pressed county staff for clearer information about how emergency medical services reach Wawona and how recent interagency agreements affect local response.

Background and concern

Members said the community receives emergency response from a mix of National Park Service rangers (as first responders when available), Mercy Ambulance, Sierra Ambulance and mutual-aid partners. Committee member Rick Jacobson summarized the problem: “I don’t know that anybody in this room knows what level of emergency response or what response times are required of the park service since the park service is the delivery mechanism.”

County staff provided existing documents and explained that Mercy Ambulance is the county’s primary contracted ambulance provider and that Mercy’s arrangements with other firms (including Sierra) are used to create layered response coverage. Staff also pointed to a county Emergency Medical Care Committee that includes county, Mercy, Sierra and Park representatives; that committee meets quarterly and maintains response data.

Public education and representative role

The committee asked for a plain-language public briefing so residents understand who will respond and what to expect when they call 911. The committee agreed that a joint briefing by county emergency staff, Mercy and at least one Park representative would be useful; staff offered Amy Club (county emergency response coordinator) as a presenter.

By consensus the committee identified Barry Perkins as the community’s Eastern‑County citizen representative to the countywide Emergency Medical Care Committee (the committee acknowledged the appointment and asked staff to add the representative to meeting distribution). Perkins and county staff agreed to coordinate the agenda for an educational briefing that would cover: how 911 dispatches are routed, which agencies are first responders vs. mutual‑aid responders, historical response-time data collection, air ambulance use and how seasonal weather/visibility affects response.

Ending: County staff will follow up to schedule a committee briefing (with the Park and Mercy staff invited) and to get response-time and dispatch data into a form the community can review. The county’s EMS agreements are still subject to broader intergovernmental negotiation; the committee asked to be briefed before any new long-term contract is finalized.