Sheriff Pat Heinert is planning some changes in nursing services for the Burleigh County Detention Center, as the contract with St. Alexius Medical Center will expire on Sept. 1.

Heinert has been in discussion with Bismarck-Burleigh Public Health Director Paula Flanders about having her department provide the necessary services.

Earlier this week, Flanders received the approval of the Bismarck City Commission to pursue the opportunity of providing two full-time equivalent positions for the jail.

The proposal still has to be taken to the Burleigh County Commission, which Heinert hopes to do in at an upcoming meeting.

Flanders told city commissioners there wasn't anyone on the BBPH staff who is interested in working at the jail and that the positions will be advertised. Heinert has a list of applicants who showed interest earlier this year, when Burleigh advertised for a nurse to take over the medication program at the jail. Those applicants also will be contacted, the sheriff said.

City Commissioner Sandi Tabor was insistent that anyone interested in working as a nurse at the jail be informed that the job was secure for only as long as the length of the contract.

Flanders wants to hire a full-time nurse to head the jail program and two part-time nurses to provide flexibility in scheduling. Plans are to have the nurses in place by the beginning of August, which will give about a month of overlap to provide for the transition.

"I want the full-time person to take over and run the program. If possible, we'll hire the people after that to help," Flanders said.

St. Alexius is paid on an hourly rate, and Burleigh is paying the service an average monthly fee of $17,500, according to Heinert. St. Alexius is providing about 12 to 14 hours a day in coverage.

In discussions with Flanders, Heinert has determined he can reduce the daily coverage to about 10 hours and the monthly charges to about $11,500.

"What's driving this whole thing is that we can have staff trained in distribution of medicine," Heinert said. "The Legislature is allowing staff to be trained in medicinal distribution."

The detention center will be staffed with nurses Monday through Friday, and nurses will be on-call during the weekends, Heinert said.

Recently, the jail turned to UND Family Practice to provide services requiring a medical doctor, and, according to the sheriff, the program has been outstanding.

"As far as the nursing, nothing is guaranteed yet. We're putting together a tentative package with some rough numbers," Heinert said. "I'm going to provide the county commission with maximum numbers, but I expect we'll be able to do it for less."