MANSFIELD — A one-page piece of legislation doesn’t capture the importance of a new contract between OhioHealth and the Mansfield Fire Department.
In the deal, OhioHealth Corp., which operates hospitals in Mansfield and Shelby, has agreed to “provide the services of a medical director, to provide medical direction to Mansfield Fire EMS, and other related goods/services.”
In reality, it’s much more than that, according to Mansfield Fire Dept. Assistant Chief Mark Sieving, who described the contract that council unanimously approved Tuesday evening.
“This is a sizeable and very generous offer from OhioHealth to give back to the community,” Sieving told City Council on Tuesday evening. “You can’t really put a number on it.”
Sieving, joined at the meeting by Vinson Yates, president of OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital and OhioHealth Shelby Hospital, said the health care provider approached MFD last summer about the proposal.
“This agreement allows for things like supply exchange, where they provide our medical supplies that we use on EMS trucks,” Sieving said.
He said OhioHealth also agreed to do training for the department’s paramedics.
“A paramedic needs to have 86 hours of continuing education hours every three years. It’s something that is probably one of the more difficult things for us to maintain,” Sieving said.
He said the deal also allows for medication exchange.
“We’ve already had meetings with the Pharmacy Board at OhioHealth, and so those costs will be assumed by OhioHealth in a way that gives back to the community,” Sieving said.
“But I wanna make sure that we understand this isn’t just the Mansfield Fire Department or the City of Mansfield that’s benefiting from this.
“Washington Township, just south of us has already availed themselves of this. Springfield Township-Ontario has availed themselves of this, just to name a couple,” Sieving said.
“This offer has been put out to all of the public entities who provide EMS. Not just in Richland County, either, it’s across the state where OhioHealth is active. It is a very generous thing,” Sieving said.
The assistant chief said the deal with OhioHealth doesn’t negatively affect patients who wish to be transported to Avita Health System facilities.
“This is not a competitive thing between OhioHealth and Avita,” he said. “We are still more than happy to take people to Avita at their request or to the (medical) facility that is most appropriate to receive those patients.”
Sieving said the MFD spent $130,752.20 last year on EMS supplies and medications.
“You can see see what kind of a benefit is to the city to be able to provide this from the OhioHealth facilities,” he said, adding a price tag can’t be put on the training benefits.
“There are opportunities there to get training that we have not been able to do in the past because of the cost,” he said.
The assistant chief said OhioHealth is also providing health physicals for firefighters.
Yates pointed to a great working relationship between the MFD and OhioHealth, evidenced by an early-morning Arthur Avenue house fire in 2021 that sent five burn victims to the Mansfield hospital, all of whom survived.
All of the victims were rescued from the burning house by firefighters and were taken by MFD to OhioHealth Mansfield. All were treated locally and then transported later that morning to Columbus-area hospital burn units for recovery.
Yates praised the cooperative efforts that morning of the Mansfield Fire Department and the emergency room staff at OhioHealth Mansfield.
“I would just say from my perspective, it was completely a non-chaotic situation (at the hospital). Everyone knew what they were doing.
“It was because of the training and education that goes on between these groups. It made me, the layman of the group, say, ‘They got this. I don’t need to worry about it.’ And they did,” Yates said.
“They had every patient there. That’s the relationship that should go on in these communities. I hope you feel very good about the work that goes on with your safety services and the Mansfield Fire Department,” Yates said.
OhioHealth is a nationally recognized, not-for-profit, charitable, healthcare outreach of the United Methodist Church.
OhioHealth has been recognized as one of the top five large health systems in America by IBM Watson Health, an honor it has received six times.
OhioHealth has 35,000 associates, physicians and volunteers, and a network of 12 hospitals, 200-plus ambulatory sites, hospice, home health, medical equipment and other health services spanning 47 Ohio counties.
(A previous version of this story incorrectly spelled the name of Mansfield Fire Department Assistant Chief Mark Sieving.)
