PARIS – Health care at the Oxford County Jail will take on a new look March 1 when an Augusta company takes over the responsibilities.
Allied Resources for Correctional Health, which provides medical service to correctional facilities in eight other counties, was the only bidder. It will provide two nurses to dispense medications to inmates and respond to medical problems around the clock. A doctor will also be available.
The service costs $38,500 a year when the inmate population averages 40 per day. If the population averages more than 40 for 16 consecutive days, a 10 percent surcharge will be added.
The county will pay the company $32,083 for the rest of 2004.
Dr. Lonnie Lauer had been providing medical service to inmates since 1980 and last year was paid $31,900.
Jail Administrator Capt. Ernest Martin said it is not known if Allied Resources for Correctional Health will save the county money.
Last year the county spent $73,239 for all medical services.
He said he was pleased that guards will no longer have the responsibility of handing out medications to inmates. Guards spent a lot of time on medications, he said.
“They would have to call Dr. Lauer, fax scripts into a pharmacy and record every transaction in the log,” Martin said. “It takes two staff people 30-45 minutes, four times a day to administer drugs.”
He said he spoke to several counties using the company and received positive comments.
“I learned that generally if an inmate comes in here without a prescription he will leave the same way,” Martin said.
Martin said the value of the service provider could also be in its ability to determine the proper care for an inmate.
He said guards would send an inmate to the emergency room if unable to deal with a problem that seemed severe.
“It was the conservative thing to do,” Martin said. “Nurses may circumvent that by realizing the problem.”
The acceptance of the bid by the County Commission on Tuesday was a bittersweet moment for him and his staff.
He praised Lauer’s work and said he would be missed.
“It’s just one of those things,” Martin said. “We’re accountable to the tax-paying public.”
Martin said the county budget committee was the catalyst for the change.
jsmedley@sunjournal.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.