POLAND — Imagine calling for an ambulance and having to wait a half-hour or more for its arrival.
That has occurred in the Poland community in an instance when the ambulance had to come from Greenville, Pa.
Now the Western Reserve Fire District is asking voters to provide additional dollars for ambulance service.
“We have been able, in the past, to rely on a group of private ambulance companies from all over the county. That system is now in crisis, possibly a fatal crisis,” said Mike Thompson, Western Reserve Joint Fire District chairman. “We have been able to hold the line with volunteers and our own ambulances that we have purchased, but our volunteers can’t hold that line forever.”
The Poland community is now covered by American Medical Response ambulances as for primary responses. But according to data gathered by WRJFD Capt. Conner O’Halloran, AMR’s percentage of calls responded to in Poland are dropping. In April of this year, there were 104 ambulance calls; AMR responded to 62. The WRJFD ambulance handled 37, and the remaining five came from a third alarm call, he said.
O’Halloran said a third alarm goes out when AMR has no ambulance available and when the WRJFD has no available volunteers to respond. The alarm goes out to neighboring communities with ambulances.
WRJFD board member Mark Covell said one call had a 52-minute wait time for arrival of an ambulance from Greenville, Pa., which was the closest available.
“Every time we hit the third alarm, the response time is incredibly long,” O’Halloran said. “And we are starting to over-burden our neighboring agencies.” He saidcommunities nationwide are being affected by a shortage of ambulance service.
THIS YEAR
This year, in May there were 90 calls for which AMR answered 58. In July there were 68 calls with 11 handled by AMR, in August 70 with 11 from AMR and 21 from outside agencies, and in September there were 65 with AMR handling seven.
Poland took the first step toward its own ambulance service in 2018 when voters approved a 1-mill levy to provide for the purchase of ambulances and the expansion of Station 93 near the high school to house the ambulances. That particular levy was for the vehicles and stations, and could not be used for wages.
The WRJFD board felt it was time to seek a levy that will provide for station staffing for the ambulances. That staffing would be all day, seven days a week. Board member Elinor Zedaker said the board had a deep discussion on the matter and took all things into consideration.
“We tried to consider the community and tried our best to bring it to the lowest denominator,” she said.
The 2.75 mills would bring in $1,181,316 per year, which would provide for enough part time, paid people to staff two ambulances 24/7. That means having four part-time people at the station at all times with two ambulances ready to roll.
Thompson added that a previous 0.8 mill levy was not renewed when it came up in 2020. He said with the new levy, no further levies would be needed in the foreseeable future. He said the 0.8-mill levy that was first approved in 1990 and was renewed every five years, last renewed in 2014 and expired in 2019-2020.
Thompson said the 2.75-mill levy would cost the owner of a $100,000 home valuation, roughly $96.25 per year, or roughly $8.03 per month. If approved by voters, it would not be collected until 2023.
When the WRJFD ambulance responds to a call in Poland village or township, the residents know they will not be billed beyond what their insurance company will pay. Thompson said because residents already are paying taxes to the WRJFD, they would never be billed by the district; but AMR and any outside ambulance company would bill.
“One trip can start at $1,300,” Zedaker said.
Still, the greater advantage is having an ambulance respond quickly, O’Halloran said. The district’s ambulances have life-saving equipment such as an automatic CPR machine, heart monitors that transmit EKGs to hospitals, waveform capnography (measures CO2), an special drill for vascular access, and a Stryker power cot to lift and load patients.
jtwhitehouse@vindy.com