UNION, Maine — The owner of a private ambulance company said he realized that his proposal to provide emergency medical services to four local towns would generate a lot of emotions from members of the volunteer town ambulance service but that the change would save the communities money and maintain quality care.
Jason Wiley of Sterling Ambulance of Union met Thursday night, Feb. 23 with representatives of the boards of selectmen from Union, Hope and Appleton. No one from the Washington Board of Selectmen attended.
Currently, the Union Ambulance Service responds to emergency calls for the four towns.
Wiley approached the towns, stressing it was unsolicited.
“I drew up this proposal as the next logical step for Sterling Ambulance,” Wiley said.
He noted towns are facing difficult economic times and are trying to save money and that his proposal would realize savings for towns.
“I looked at how to save towns money but not cut services,” Wiley said.
The room at the Thompson Community Center was filled with about 35 people but Wiley began the meeting by stating he would not take questions or comments from the audience. He said he would only take questions from the selectmen.
“I know what kinds of emotions it would evoke,” Wiley said of his proposal.
He also said he was insulted by an accusation from someone at a prior meeting that he had made a low-ball offer in order to get the contract and that he would then raise the price once he was running the service. Wiley noted that he is able to provide a three-year contract with no increases during that period because most of his fixed costs are already in place. He said he would have to buy a third ambulance and add staff to take on the extra calls but otherwise he has the necessary equipment and staff.
Questions from Union selectmen focused on the cost-distribution in the proposal which would be based on the number of calls, not town population.
Union Selectmen Chairman Elmer Savage said that basing it on calls skewed the costs since Union gets more calls because Route 17 runs through the town and calls often come from someone from out of town who happens to be on that main road.
Selectman Lyle Cramer of Union also objected to the formula.
“That’s grossly unfair,” Cramer said of having calls from the long-term retirement complex Seven Tree Manor included in Union’s costs.
Wiley said he was only including the number of emergency calls from Seven Tree Manor and not transport runs. Sterling has a contract with Seven Tree to provide ambulance services, including emergency calls.
Wiley’s figures show that 62 percent of the emergency calls handled by both the Union Ambulance Service and Sterling — 526 out of 843 — come from Union. Washington has the next most calls at 215, followed by 61 from Appleton and 41 from South Hope.
Scot Sabins, the director of the volunteer Union Ambulance Service, said in the 30 years he has been with the Union department it has provided quality service to the four towns.
“We provide excellent public service at minimal costs. We have a great crew,” he noted.
The ambulance service’s budget is $190,000. The service generates revenues by charging for responses.
The Union service has 35 volunteers, he noted.
After the meeting, Wiley said the next step is up to the selectmen.
“Now, it’s in the hands of the selectmen. I pay taxes here, too. I know they’re going up. This is a way to help,” he said.
Cramer said Union will likely wait to see what the other towns will do. He noted if some of the other towns went with Sterling, Union would need to look at ways to spread out its costs, perhaps seeing if it could provide service to another town.
Sterling Ambulance was formed in 2001 and since 2008 has also responded to emergency calls. Last year, the company responded to 368 emergency calls, he noted.
Wiley didn’t want to address “what if” scenarios last night but that’s just what’s needed. What if there’s an emergency call in the middle of the night and then another? Wiley won’t have a first-responder system in place like we have now. You’ll just have to wait until someone else’s ambulance arrives from Waldoboro or Camden I guess. Or maybe he’ll send his limo, he didn’t say.
Or what if Wiley has taken on too much debt and decides he needs to cut his losses? Then we have NO ambulance service I guess. Try to get the people who you’ve snubbed to volunteer again, good luck with that.
What if I’m unemployed and need the ambulance and have no insurance? Will Wiley drag me to small claims court? The town’s service doesn’t do that.
“What ifs” provide good planning and not much of these unanswered questions seem like a good plan to me. What if we just ignored Wiley and stay with the excellent service and system we have now, staffed by quality volunteer community members ready to respond at a moments notice. Now, that’s a plan!
Folks have to understand, this won’t save the town any money. It will lose money and lose control.
Union Ambulance generates about $ 150,000 per year, and fully pays its own bills without costing the town any money. The revenue also pays for the replacement ambulances. The Town does appropriate and vote to spend, but the funds that it spends are from revenue. This is all about him trying to get his hands on that $ 150,000 !!!!
Reporter Betts also failed to realize why the room was packed. He should have done a few more interviews.
I attended this meeting and realized early on that this was a public meeting only in the sense that the public were invited to watch. The public were not allowed to ask questions or make comments. Unless I am mistaken Sterling’s proposal has not been made available to the public at their website or at any town websites. The process thus far has been closed to any other EMS vendors due to the unsolicited nature of this proposal. Let’s open up the bidding process. If the local Select boards were exercising due diligence they would publish a Request for Proposals.
Has anyone ever proposed that Union Ambulance become its own separate 501c3 not-for-profit overseen by a board of directors made up of representatives of each town with a vested interest in making Union Ambulance competitive on the same playing field as that of privately owned services but with greater transparency in the decision making process and accountability to all of the people being served?
Mr. Wiley’s reluctance to allow questions or comments from the citizens and keep such to the town’s selectpersons, IMHO, should raise great doubt and concerns regarding any proposal from his respective ambulance service…..it appears that the town is being well served and staffed by competent personnel at the present time….the goal here should not be necessarily to save money, but to best serve the emergent needs of the citizen…..
I wonder whether there would be a savings in taxes considering Union Ambulance brings in revenue for the town of Union. It seems that another model could be Union considering having a second ambulance for transfers to further increase income and reduce taxes, not giving that up to a private company which, though now run by one who lives in Union and therefore feels personal commitment, but might one day change hands.
One of the “what ifs” which must be considered are possible and plausible changes: If, for instance, we end up with political leadership eliminating government programs such as Medicare or MaineCare or severely limiting participants in these programs, or people drop their medical insurance as prices become astronomical, will a private service continue to serve individuals knowing they will not pay, or will they allow their “house to burn” as happened with the subscriber fire department in Tennessee?
Jason is a decent man, I am sure he would provide care, but what if, and this is a real consideration, the income is not sufficient to cover costs? He and his employees will need to feed their family, and have the freedom, beyond the 3 year contract he is proposing, have the right to decide whether to renew, to raise the prices as he pointed out, if need be, to sell. Will the next owner feel the same personal commitment? Another dreadful “what if”, bankruptcy. This occurred years back Downeast, leaving the formerly contracted region with no service of its own. This is not meant as a reflection on Sterling Ambulance, I have the utmost respect for Jason and his employees, but paradigms shift. Business situations change. Having a municipal service, meaning owned by the citizens, provides many benefits. Room for improvement is always a factor in life. With your service, your input is valued. Union used to only transport to PBMC. Citizens preferring other nearby medical facilities complained about the lack of choice and they prevailed. Membership and training opportunities are open to people of the four town service area. Union Ambulance members will often first respond (go to the scene of health crisis directly to begin assessment and treatment). Hopefully, before going for the bottom line, we consider what we may be losing.