Sterling Heights divided over ambulance service

[MacombMonitor]

Sterling Heights divided over ambulance service

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060510/METRO03/605100342/1014

 

[stiebs81]

Sterling Heights and many other communities should have their own ambulances instead of a private company. Every time there is a medical call, they have to send out a $250,000 + fire engine with 3 people on board to make sure the patient is ok and the private ambulance shows up to transport. A lot of these private ambulance companies hire people right out school with no experience. I know a lot of municipalities that have their own ambulance service hire new firefighters with experience from a private ambulance company. Also by adding more personnel to the fire department would likely improve their ISO rating.

 

[xconfusionx]

Sterling Heights and many other communities should have their own ambulances instead of a private company. Every time there is a medical call, they have to send out a $250,000 + fire engine with 3 people on board to make sure the patient is ok and the private ambulance shows up to transport. A lot of these private ambulance companies hire people right out school with no experience. I know a lot of municipalities that have their own ambulance service hire new firefighters with experience from a private ambulance company. Also by adding more personnel to the fire department would likely increase their ISO rating.

More often than not the ambulance shows up within a minute of the engine, if not at the same time. Also those ambulance crews that run in Sterling Heights are never right out of school, they do everything possible to staff those rigs with experienced Medics and EMT's.

 

[stiebs81]

I know people who easily got hired at private ambulance companies by just earning their EMT or Paramedic certificate. Also these companies do minimal background checks on the people they hire, as opposed to municipal fire departments doing an extensive background check. Sterling Heights should just send their own ambulance with 2 FF / Paramedics and collect the revenue, instead of sending an engine with 3 FF's and letting Universal collect it all.

 

[jagr707]

sticky mess...

While I do agree this works in medium communities with a taxbase to support it, There is A LOT more things that must be dealt with. All rescues/ambulances must be certified to tranport, you have to start your own or outsource medical billing services, and paramedics are not that cheap!

Questions you have to answer: How many rescues can you have "out of service" while waiting for billing information at a hospital without killing your coverage? Do you have enough to cover your summertime peak level of calls? (by FAR the busiest time) Do you really want to have your two medics tied up at the hospital for a lacerated toe as opposed to a BLS (Basic Life Support) crew from a private company, who can handle that just fine? Can your city afford it??? They are firefighters too, what if you have a large fire and need all hands, what about your medical coverage? Rescues are primarialy for fighting fires, can you afford to lose one from an accident? From my experience, most calls take ~45-60 min from dispatch to you calling back in service.

Ok I admit I may be biased, but this system works well. And believe me, we get there! And yes private companies do background checks too. The company in question has been in service since the '50s. I doubt they have been in business so long by screwing things up. Not to say that a newer company can't provide equal or better service!

There are a lot of us out there that have no interest in fighting fires, where are we supposed to work?

J

 

[KB8UYC]

Here is my two cents.....

I have and always will support the idea of Fire Departments being able to service their community themselves. If they want to be their own Paramedic service, there should be no questions asked. Fire departments can get their ambulances certified just like private ambulance companies. Everything that private ambulance companies can do so can the Fire Departments.

We have to look at the fact that since the early 70's we have been on a mission of FIRE SAFETY. It worked!! Now the only ones running multiple structure fires a day are the big cities. Detroit, Baltimore, Denver etc......

Fire departments have to stay alive, and I would much rather them be out doing paramedic services than just sitting inside the station watching tv(though there are times for that, dont get me wrong) Departments have to make sure that they have the PROPER personnel and equipment to run a Paramedic Service. All Fire departments can do it, and I support the fact that they want to.

 

[stiebs81]

jagr707,

Most, if not all Sterling Heights firefighters are certified Paramedics so there is no extra cost involved. Outsourcing medical billing costs about 10% which is around $50. I know firefighters who worked at private ambulance companies and they said the background checks are not nearly as extensive as municipalities. Having additional paramedics on the fire department to staff ambulances would not tie up firefighters on engines beacuse they are still fully staffed. The system Sterling Heights has right now can tie firefighters going to a blaze. If someone has a lacerated toe Sterling Heights has to respond with 3 firefighters on an engine (even if the call seems minor) to make sure the patient is ok, and Universal shows up to transport. 45-60 minutes seems quite a bit high, considering Sterling Heights has three hospitals nearby (Troy Beaumont, St. John Macomb, and St. Joe's West) I'm happy with the municipal ambulance service St Clair Shores provides. I suppose the private ambulance companies can work wherever communities want them.

 

[xconfusionx]

When Sterling Heights sends a 4 man engine to a medical scene, and something more serious comes in, such as a fire in that engines response area....they will leave the scene with the ambulance crew. This has been known to happen on several occasions. Don't get me wrong, in my personal opinion I would love to see Sterling Heights start transporting, I'm just saying that the current system does also work great in the meantime. As far as background checks and experience, Universal has 3 dedicated trucks for the city, therefore they can monitor and control what Medics get sent on Emergency runs.

 

[Alpha432]

My 2 cents

Private ems companies will hire an EMT or Medic right our of school becasue, well you have to start some where. How else are you going to get experience? My Fire Department here in Oakland County just started transporting on our own this past January. Since the 70's we have responded along with a private and then we ride along with them and our ambulance follows. Redundant I know. If it was a very serious call we would just cancel the private and transport ourselves. Transporting 100% of the time ourselves is working out very well. The cost recovery from the citizens is going to be over a million dollars for the year. We did not need to hire any more firemen either. We love the fact that we don't have to deal with a different private crew everytime. It is 100% service to our citizens now. We no longer have to hand them over to a scrubby looking private crew that may be pissed off that day after runnign their butts off doing boring transfers, that dress or acts unprofessionally. Not to say that all privates are like that, but I have had my share of crews like that.
Sterling heights can get away with staffing their Engines with only 2 firemen and then put the other 2 on the ambulance. Many fire Departments do it this way. As far as a fire comming in while they are on a medical, well that is the way it may go sometimes and they will have to rely on the other stations and mutual aid if necessary. The fact of the matter is there are more medical these days than fires. I don't think sterling heights should worry too much about "what if a fire this or what if a fire that" while worring about whether or not to transport on their own. It think it is a good thing. It has been my experience that Firefighters in a municipality take more pride in serving the citizens and are more professional serving their tax payers then the private ambulance crew.

 

[jagr707]

Ok Ok

OK I did not mean to instigate a riot As long as the people are getting the service they deserve, so be it. I do agree that some crews can be unprofessional and cranky from running all day. 10 calls in a 12 hour shift is not unheard of. I just try to remember that that is the way it works in private EMS. On the other hand, I have been doing this long enough for a lot of crews to know what I am capable of doing. A working relationship is a good thing to have. Calls seem to go better when they know that I have any BLS issues under control (airway, compressions, c-spine, bandaging, having that line good to go as soon as they get access) so they can consentrate on the ALS part. Coming from the other way, it is REAL nice to have 6 firefighters available to help with the 400lb patient coming down the stairs from the fourth floor.

J