Exeter Ambulance officials question need for change
Feb. 09--Like other ambulance companies, the Exeter Ambulance Association has struggled financially in recent years because of shortages in municipal funding combined with the changing economics of prehospital services.
Ambulance association officials estimated in December that the EAA was losing $126,000 a year, forcing them to contract for routine medical transports to fund their 9-1-1 operations.
The Exeter Fire Department, on the other hand, has said it can run an ambulance service more efficiently, pick up more of the calls that come in and do so at a profit.
EAA officials had sought financial support from the township in the form of a proposed ambulance tax of $55 per household, which would have generated about $465,000 to go toward operating expenses.
"We were asking for $55 to use to pay off debt, become more financially sound, be able to build equipment, build resources, and give residents of this township exactly what they need and what they deserve," EAA Chief Jon Herbsleb said. "They already have top-notch providers. They have top-notch cardiac equipment. The biggest thing we need to upgrade is our vehicles. They deserve top-notch vehicles, so that we can get people to the appropriate places in the fastest means possible."
The proposed tax increase failed to get the green light from the township supervisors last year.
Instead, the board voted to designate the Exeter Township Fire Department as the primary provider of 9-1-1 service, effective March 23.
Fire officials have said that a contract is already in place with the Muhlenberg Ambulance Association to pick up the slack during the transition period until the fire-based EMS model is fully up and running.
Additionally, they added. EAA employees will have the opportunity to be interviewed for positions within the department.
Officials within the EAA, on the other hand, have questioned why the township would try to reinvent the ambulance model now, after four decades of service.
"We have a couple of medics who have been with Exeter Ambulance for 30 years," Herbsleb said. "They don't want to be firemen. So you're losing that experience. And I'm not saying that anybody is looking to replace anybody with substandard requirements or anything else. But it's one of those things where, we already have all the licenses, we have all these things in place. Why are we reinventing the wheel when the wheel is already made? It needs to be inflated."
Contact Becca Y. Gregg: 610-371-5032 or bgregg@readingeagle.com.
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