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Health & Fitness

Why Not Keep Newtown Ambulance Services In-House?

With multiple proposals, including the Newtown Square Fire Co., I wonder about Newtown Township's choice of an ambulance services provider.

At the most recent supervisors public meeting, thoughtful comments about providing ambulance services to the township were made by a .

Mr. Fedor expressed concern and support for the ., in which they wanted to return as the emergency ambulance services for township residents. I agree with Mr. Fedor and wonder why the township officials were not more supportive of having the fire company provide this service.   

The fire company spent many years providing ambulance services to township residents. By all accounts, the fire company provided excellent service. Years ago, the township decided to switch ambulance providers. It is still not clear to me why the change was made. In recent years, the ambulance services was provided by Riddle Hospital/Main Line Health. 

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At budget workshops for the past two years, I have pointed out that ambulance services was now being greatly subsidized by the taxpayers. At the end of 2011, the budget posted indicated that the township had paid Main Line Health $735,000 and had collected $350,000 in reimbursements. 

This means that the taxpayer subsidy was $385,000 for Riddle. This subsidy did not include payment for the ambulance and its repair, ambulance supplies, the cost to house the EMTs and fuel. These were additional costs paid for with tax dollars.    

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As all ambulance services are required to provide the same level of service, it would seem that seeking to find out if residents could be served as well in a more economical way would be an easy decision.

But in Newtown, after two years of my questioning at budget workshops, township officials decided to seek proposals from other ambulance services providers.  At their most recent meeting, the supervisors directed the manager to seek a . 

In my view, the township officials never adequately informed the public of the details of other proposals. They never brought Riddle in to present to the public or give the public an opportunity to ask questions. The explanation they offered for choosing Riddle was that Riddle had reduced their cost to the township by about 10 percent in the first year of a new contract (we have no idea what the contract details are for years two and three of the proposed three-year contract).

Additionally, as the result of no longer having a Riddle ambulance in Edgmont, Riddle would sometimes station that extra ambulance in Newtown. Apparently, it was this second ambulance becoming available at times as a backup that sealed the deal.

Many questions remain though. We know the fire company sought to return to providing ambulance services to the community. We know there were other providers interested in serving the township residents’ emergency ambulance needs.  

Again, I wonder why township officials do not provide more information to the residents who are paying for this service? And, once again, we are left with more questions than answers. 

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