AED purchase, Suicide Fatality Review Committee revisited at Aug. 14 commission meeting

Highland County EMA Director David Bushelman, left, and Highland County Health Commissioner Jared Warner address commissioners Aug. 14. (HCP Photo/Caitlin Forsha)
Highland County commissioners David Daniels, Brad Roades and Terry Britton met with two county officials during their Wednesday, Aug. 14 meeting as a followup to previous discussions on purchasing automated external defibrillator (AED) devices for Highland County buildings and on establishing a Suicide Fatality Review Committee.
As previously reported, Highland County EMA Director David Bushelman and Cintas sales representative Natasha Mallery spoke with commissioners July 10, after Bushelman said that Britton asked him to draft a recommendation on purchasing AEDs for county buildings.
Bushelman said the county had three different options to purchase 19 AEDs: a lease at a cost of $2,261 per month for three years, which includes Cintas taking “care of everything;” a purchase at a cost of $50,000, plus a $630 monthly charge for LifeREADY 360 (which provides fire and EMS with information on where the county’s AEDs are located), while the county would be in charge of monitoring each device; and a purchase at a cost of $42,454.05, with a $1,121 monthly fee for Cintas to “take care of everything.”
Bushelman said his recommendation was the equipment purchase with the $1,121 monthly fee for Cintas’ coverage, but Daniels pointed out that it appears the cost difference between that and the lease would be negligible.
“Is there a shelf life on them?” Daniels asked. “Are we looking at different technology coming out at the end of three years that we just simply replace them?”
“That would be my guess that they’ll probably replace them, but I can’t answer that for sure,” Bushelman said, adding he was fine with “either one of the two, where they take care of all the checks and everything and takes you guys, all of us, out of any liability.”
The quotes discussed in July included alarmed cabinets for most of the AEDs. According to Highland County Health Commissioner Jared Warner, the health department will also provide NARCAN for cabinets at no cost.
“Let us make sure of the numbers,” Daniels said. “The only question I’ve got is, by the time you purchase and add on the monthly service contract, are we just simply better off leasing? Is it a lesser cost? And then, if so, if we do that, at the end of three years, are we going to swap out for new equipment?”
Bushelman said he would find out for sure and get back to commissioners.
“I don't think there's any question that we’re going to move ahead with one contract or another,” Daniels said.
In an unrelated discussion, Bushelman was also on hand for a proposal by Warner for the county to establish a Suicide Fatality Review Committee.
As previously reported, according to correspondence received by the commissioners’ office, the suggestion was made in July by Warner, who pointed out that Highland County had 19 confirmed suicide deaths between 2020-22.
Warner told commissioners Wednesday that “fairly recently, Ohio passed a law that allows counties to establish a formal Suicide Fatality Review Committee” and said that Highland County’s Suicide Prevention Coalition has been discussing how the county could implement this idea.
“This Suicide Fatality Review Committee would work very similarly to our existing Child Fatality Review Board that meets annually to review child deaths and identify common trends and potential preventative steps that we could take collectively to reduce child deaths,” Warner wrote in an email to commissioners in July.
Warner said Wednesday that if approved, this new committee would “follow that same approach” to “look at the individual suicide deaths that have occurred in Highland County residents and figure out if there are any common factors, common causes that we can address, either individually as agencies or collectively as a community, to try to prevent those deaths.”
Britton asked if there were grants available to support the committee. The health commissioner said there weren’t any “directly associated with this,” but as he and Bushelman pointed out, “there’s not really a cost to it.
“It's just a matter of getting the big players in the room, and when we have a formal committee that's been established by the commissioners, it gives a little more weight sometimes than otherwise might have,” Warner said. “There’s no funding directly associated with it, but it does open us up for potential funding in the future, because the state is really trying to push out suicide fatality review as well as overdose fatality review, to try to get more of those committees happening locally.
“Our thought would be we would do suicide fatality review the same day we do child fatality since most of the same partners are already in the room. I've got other county health departments who do that same thing. They just have kind of a joint process and look for those intervention points.”
Regarding the funding, Roades said that at a meeting this week at Highland District Hospital with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services representatives, mental health was the “number one” issue discussed, with the potential for funding being available “for help.”
In response to a question from Daniels, Warner said he did not have a resolution drafted yet as he was waiting on commissioners’ feedback, but that he get something “put together” with Highland County Prosecutor Anneka Collins for future approval.
“I think obviously, if that provides you some cover, I think that we can go ahead and do that,” Daniels said. “Do we need to name the participants in that, or do we just simply establish it, and then you will do the administration?”
“Basically, you name me as the administrator of the group, and I'm off and running from there,” Warner said. “It’s pretty easy.”
Commissioners thanked him for the overview and said they could try to get a resolution “on the agenda next week.”
(Editor’s note: If you are feeling suicidal, talk to someone. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is a hotline for individuals in crisis or for those looking to help someone else. Call or text 988. The Lifeline is available for everyone and is free and confidential.)
In other discussion:
• Commissioners met with their current energy consultant during their Wednesday, Aug. 14 meeting, while they also heard unrelated concerns from local township trustees regarding a planned park project. Read more at: https://highlandcountypress.com/news/commissioners-hear-energy-consulta….
• Commissioners held budget meetings with County Court and Probation later in the morning Wednesday.
• Commissioners agreed to adopt a plan for “Residential Anti-Displacement and Relocation Assistance” and provide relocation assistance to each low/moderate income household displaced by the demolition of housing. Daniels said this is a standard resolution for the Community Development Block Grant program.
• Commissioners agreed to set the time and date for a public viewing in New Market Township to be held Wednesday, Sept. 4 at 10 a.m. and a public hearing Wednesday, Sept. 4 at 11 a.m. in the Highland County Commissioners Office.
• Commissioners appointed Christopher Fauber to serve on the District 15 Public Works Integrating Committee for a term of three years, beginning October 2024.
• Commissioners approved a request from Board of DD for a budget modification within the 2470 MR/DD Help Me Grow Fund in the amount of $400.
• Commissioners approved an additional appropriation from unappropriated funds to 5030 Rocky Fork Sewer District in the amount of $75,000.
• Commissioners approved a 63-month copier lease contract with Canon and Highland County Common Pleas Court in the amount of $155.19.
• Commissioners authorized an application for payment in the amount of $263,238.10 from Doll Layman Ltd., the contractor working on wastewater treatment plant upgrades for the county.
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