Emergency help will cost at Lake Mead

Friday, April 16, 2004 | 9:42 a.m.

National Park Service officials at Lake Mead will begin charging people for emergency medical treatment in the national recreation area.

The new policy is necessary because of the demand for medical care within the park, Lake Mead National Recreation Area Fire Chief Bob Trodahl said Thursday.

"Our goal is to provide a professional advance emergency medical care to the visitors and our own employees in the recreation area," Trodahl said.

Up to 10 million people visit Lake Mead every year.

In 2002 rangers at Lake Mead responded to more than 20,000 incidents ranging from drunken drivers to boating accidents to assaults.

Trodahl said there are 50 park rangers trained to manage emergencies, including firefighters.

The park service's medical director, Dr. Dale Albright, directed the staff to set up a fee schedule.

For an injured person who is treated and released, the charge will be $250, Trodahl said. For basic life support and transport the charge is $450. For advanced life support and transport, the fee is $550.

The fees charged will help cover equipment, supplies and transportation costs.

All ambulance companies operating in Southern Nevada charge a patient for transport, Trodahl noted, whether they bring a patient to a Las Vegas hospital from Boulder City or Mount Charleston.

"For years we've never charged at Lake Mead," National Park Service spokeswoman Roxanne Dey said. However, the cost of drugs and equipment has soared, she said.

A single packet used to respond to a heart attack victim may cost more than $200, Dey said. "And it's used only once," she said.

The other problem, Trodahl said, was the size of the park, an area that includes 1.5 million acres of land, including historic Hoover Dam, and nearly 750 miles of shoreline.

"When they come out here, people think they're in Las Vegas," Trodahl said. It takes up to an hour, in some cases, to reach the sick or injured person, he said, before medical treatment or a rescue can begin.

The park service is also preparing for more accidents, which are expected as the lake's surface continues to drop this summer.