St. Luke’s, McCall Memorial Hospital District celebrate new ambulance shelter and on-call living quarters

St. Luke’s and the McCall Memorial Hospital District Board celebrated the completion of a new ambulance shelter and on-call living quarters Oct. 21, marking a significant milestone in improving emergency medical services in the region.

The newly constructed facility features a bay to house the Air St. Luke’s medical transport ambulance, along with on-call living quarters that include two bedrooms, a kitchen and a living room. Designed to protect the ambulance from McCall’s winter conditions, the shelter also ensures the safe storage of medications and supplies, ultimately contributing to faster response times and improved patient care.

“The addition of on-call living quarters is a gamechanger for our recruitment and retention efforts,” said Amber Green, chief operating and nursing officer at St. Luke’s McCall. “We’ve consistently faced challenges in attracting and retaining staff due to the lack of affordable housing in the area. Providing this benefit allows us to expand our recruitment efforts beyond the local region.”

In fiscal year 2025 (October 2024 through September 2025), the McCall-based Air St. Luke’s team made 268 patient transfers, including 161 patients to Boise, 94 from St. Luke’s McCall to the McCall airport for air transfers and provided 13 rides home for patients.  

Air St. Luke’s collaborates with McCall Fire and EMS, Meadows Valley EMS, Riggins EMS and Donnelly Fire EMS to ensure coverage when the team is unavailable for hospital-to-airport transfers. For transfers from McCall to Boise, backup support is provided by the Air St. Luke’s team based in the Treasure Valley.

Ambulance staffing includes Advanced Life Support-credentialed providers — either a registered nurse or paramedic — and an emergency medical technician, either basic or advanced. The current crew consists of six full-time positions: three ALS providers and three Basic Life Support providers.

Historically, staffing challenges meant relying on on-call team members for three or four nights per week to support airport transfers. With the new living quarters, the team is fully staffed, reducing the need for additional on-call support to just one night per week.

“We recently had a full-time position open when one of our team members accepted a new role with another organization,” said Chris Shandera, Air St. Luke’s EMS manager. “Thanks to the availability of on-call crew housing, we were able to quickly fill the position by transferring a team member from our Treasure Valley location.”

Under the agreement between St. Luke’s and the Hospital District, St. Luke’s may request annual funding to support and expand critical health care services. As part of the FY2024 and FY2025 funding request, St. Luke’s proposed the ambulance shelter and on-call living quarters project, totaling $1.75 million, which was approved by the board.

Funding from the Hospital District includes contingency funds to cover any unexpected expenses, though it is anticipated that only a small portion of the contingency funds will be needed.

Previously, in FY2020 and FY2021, the Hospital District provided $900,000 to purchase the ambulance and fund staffing, training and supplies.

The new facility, located on Hewitt Street across from the hospital’s emergency department ambulance entrance, was constructed over the summer.

The building contract was awarded to Scott Hedrick Construction of Boise, which has completed multiple major projects in McCall. Project manager Bayley Goodwin, who grew up in McCall and is a graduate of McCall-Donnelly High School and Boise State University, led the construction effort.