Pa. Ambulance Service Exploring Options to Avoid Closing
Oct. 11--They're down but not out.
An officer for West Hazleton Community Ambulance Association said Monday that the 62-year-old volunteer organization is exploring options to prevent its doors from permanently closing.
The group has been in conversations with other regional ambulance companies that face a similar challenge -- recruiting volunteers, said Jonathan Rice, assistant chief and president of the community ambulance.
The outcome could shape the future for the volunteer organization.
"I myself have years invested in this place" Rice said. "A few members have over 20 years (of service). None of us want to see the place close. We're doing whatever we can to prevent that from happening."
Rice spoke Monday in response to a vote cast by West Hazleton council on Sept. 13 to remove the community ambulance from a list of emergency responders in West Hazleton.
Council members cited a lack of communication and cooperation from the ambulance company when removing it as West Hazleton's first-due advanced life support (ALS) responder and first-due basic life support (BLS) responder.
Council President Mark Yeager said recently that the ambulance experienced turnover among its membership and that he believes a lack of volunteerism triggered recent developments.
West Hazleton's revised alarm card does not include the community ambulance.
To Rice's knowledge, recent developments in West Hazleton have had no impact on mutual aid agreements the community ambulance has with neighboring municipalities.
He did not identify those communities by name.
"As far as I'm aware, nothing has changed with our mutual aid agreements," he said. "That is all based off of staffing. If their ambulance isn't available, we're on their alarm card."
Rice said that he does not believe ambulance association members have reached out to the borough since council voted to revise the ambulance alarm card.
The group, however, plans to approach council in the near future.
"We are going to be approaching them shortly once we get all of our ends tied up here," he said. "I'm not 100 percent sure if their decision is indefinite or temporary or what their decision was based on."
In the meantime, the group has been "picking up private events," he said.
Recruiting volunteers is one of the largest hurdles for the community ambulance -- a challenge that is no different for any other volunteer organizations in the region and state, he said.
"Our biggest downfall right now is the lack of volunteers," Rice said. "Everyone's just too busy."
Volunteers that remain with the community ambulance have been working on possible solutions with representatives from the Nuremberg and Sugarloaf Township ambulances, he said.
"There's many different angles we're trying to do here (to keep) all of us alive," Rice said.
Nuremberg Community Ambulance Association representatives announced a few weeks ago that it would end service due to a lack of volunteers, funding and new regulations that require additional training.
In West Hazleton's case, staffing has been a "hit or miss deal" over Rice's eight years with the community ambulance.
When he first started in 2008, the community ambulance had enough volunteers to staff two ambulances.
Interest waned over the years, particularly in the past few months, Rice said.
"In the last two months here, it's gotten real bad with people," he said. "We're trying everything we possibly can to pool people from where we can just ... make things happen."
The challenge is not unique to West Hazleton, he said.
"All I can say is things have been better," Rice said.
The community ambulance will work to reclaim a spot on West Hazleton's ambulance alarm card, but Rice realizes that decision is in the hands of council.
"My personal views obviously don't matter but I feel it's in the best interest of the borough if we can get there as much as we can," Rice said of responding to calls. "They'd have better odds than waiting for something coming out of Wilkes-Barre -- especially with something serious.
"The biggest thing is people," he continued. "If we get people, it would be 100 times better."
The community ambulance is looking for volunteers, no matter the amount of time a person can commit, he said.
"An hour of their time can make the rest of a lifetime for someone else," he said. "That's all it takes -- even if it's an hour a month."
Rice said that anyone interested in volunteering can call him at 603-828-5777 or the ambulance company office at 570-455-5533.
Copyright 2016 - Standard-Speaker, Hazleton, Pa.
