Municipalities have role in ambulance gaps

March 05--Townships, boroughs and the city of New Castle have the responsibility of making sure their jurisdictions have sufficient ambulance coverage.

That was the message Lawrence County Public Safety director Brian Melcer gave to members of the Lawrence County Regional Council of Governments at their monthly meeting yesterday.

About 20 elected municipal officials from various townships and boroughs and members of the New Castle Fire Department attended. The county commissioners also were present.

The state codes governing municipalities give their governments the responsibility of public safety, Melcer said.

With increasing frequency, the county is without coverage from its two private ambulance services for intervals of time, Melcer said, "and it's a growing concern."

The gap has been occurring several times a week, Melcer had said in an interview in January.

The lack of ambulance coverage often requires the 911 center to dispatch a fire department Quick Response Service or another basic life support service to respond until an ambulance arrives.

There are two private, for-profit ambulance services in the county -- Noga and Medevac, both of which are based in New Castle and have locations in Ellwood City, he said.

At one time, the county had volunteer ambulance services in rural areas, and Pulaski Volunteer Fire Department still operates one. But services in New Wilmington and Enon Valley, for example, have disbanded, and over the years, most local fire departments in the county have converted to Quick Response Services, providing basic life support. They are often the first-responders that stabilize the patients until the ambulance arrives.

The county Department of Public Safety is addressing ways to close the gap on ambulance shortages, but it is largely up to the municipalities to come up with a solution, he said.

Their options include the municipality contracting with an ambulance service, obligating the ambulance company to serve that township or borough for a retainer-type of fee, he explained after the meeting. In that case, the ambulance service still would bill the patient and/or the patient's insurance as well, Melcer said.

A municipality also can choose to start its own ambulance service, Melcer said.

Or it can contract with an ambulance service that is out of the area "to deepen the batting order," he said.

A third option is to "stay with what you have," he said.

He explained that most municipalities in the county now rely on the system in place, where the 911 center dispatches ambulances where needed and whenever they are available, meanwhile filling in with QRS services until the ambulance can get there.

The county's two private services serve on a rotating shift basis, week by week.

Melcer said he knows of no municipalities in the county presently contracting with an ambulance service.

"People may start to approach you and ask you how you are providing emergency medical service in your community," Melcer told the officials.

He emphasized that the county Emergency Medical Services are not responsible for making decisions for the municipalities, but the county public safety department can provide data about the frequency and types of calls and response times, for example.

On the county level, the public safety department is training the dispatchers to ask questions of 911 callers to determine the scale of the emergencies and whether to send basic or advanced life support responders.

It also is working with the local hospital to reduce the time it takes for an ambulance to deliver a patient to the emergency room, so it is freed up sooner, Melcer said.

Copyright 2015 - New Castle News, Pa.