[cifnmedia] Committee: Ambulance monopoly better for 911
- From: Sean & Kimberly Aaron <cifn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: CIFN LIST <cifnmedia@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 29 Apr 2004 19:47:56 -0700 (PDT)
Local News
Committee: Ambulance monopoly better for 911
By BILL GRIMES, Daily News
Saying, in effect, that too many cooks are spoiling the soup, the Effingham
County Ad Hoc Ambulance Committee is calling on the county board to allow only
one ambulance service to operate within the county.
Wednesday, the Ad Hoc Committee unanimously approved submission of a letter to
county board Chairman Leonard Waldhoff calling for establishment of an
ambulance monopoly, chiefly because of concerns the four existing services are
having too much trouble retaining paramedics.
"By eliminating competition and guaranteeing one ambulance service 100 percent
of all runs and transports, revenue that was once distributed among four
ambulance services would be directed to one service," the letter says. "The
intent is to retain qualified paramedics by offering competitive wages and
benefits."
Committee member Chuck Schuette, who spoke in favor of the letter Wednesday,
said creating the monopoly would enable county residents to receive better
ambulance service. He illustrated his point with the example of a heart attack
victim.
"If a person has a heart attack, they don't want a person with six months
experience when they could have somebody with five years experience," Schuette
said, adding the more experienced paramedic would be less likely to make
potentially crippling or fatal mistakes.
Schuette pointed out that Jefferson County, about an hour south of Effingham,
created an ambulance monopoly nearly 30 years ago that works well.
The letter also advocates the creation of an "oversight committee" comprised of
physicians, other health care professionals and community leaders. This
committee would be responsible for:
€ Establishing criteria used to select the single service.
€ Recommending a service that best meets the criteria.
€ Monitoring the performance of the selected service so that service quality
is maximized and regulatory requirements are met.
Effingham County is presently served by Effingham Advanced Ambulance Service,
Effingham City-County Ambulance, Altamont Ambulance Service and Gieseking
Ambulance Service. However, the Effingham City-County and Altamont services are
both owned by Terry White of Altamont, while the Gieseking service does not
provide advanced paramedic service.
Small parts of the county also are served by ambulance services operated
through the Tri-County and Stewardson Fire Protection districts.
In other action Wednesday, the ad hoc committee voted to recommend to the
Emergency Telephone Systems (911) Board that the old Three Corners Ambulance
Service territory be split between the Effingham Advanced and Altamont
services. In effect, this proposal would give the Altamont service ambulance
runs within Edgewood, while Effingham Advanced would handle runs in Mason.
The old Three Corners area covered all of West and Mason townships, as well as
the western third of Union Township.
Chief Deputy John Loy, who presented the proposed split, said the dividing line
between the two service areas would be 800th Street. Loy is a member of the
Emergency Service Committee of the 911 board that crafted the proposed split.
Other members of that committee are Kate Weber and Butch Mounteer.
Bill Grimes can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 132 or
bgrimes@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sean A. Aaron (CIFN*1)
Central Illinois Fire Network
cifn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.geocities.com/central_illinois_firenet
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