City discusses change in ambulance service

The city's options include getting out of ambulance calls.
By D.A. WILKINSON
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- Council's traffic and safety committee will continue to study ambulance response times from two companies after hearing complaints of slow service.
Committee Chairman Earl A. "Bud" Schory II said Tuesday that the city's ordinance on ambulance service at least needs to be rewritten. Schory, a lawyer, said portions of it date to 1978 and dictate equipment that is out of date and that ambulances don't carry.
One option, Schory said, was for the city to get out of regulating ambulances.
The committee asked the two companies that the city uses to compile comparable information before the committee meets again.
The city once paid $100,000 a year to have Gold Cross provide service in the city. The city eventually stopped paying for coverage. Schory said the city then rewrote its ordinance and set up the system.
The only two providers now are Rural/Metro Ambulance of Youngstown and KLG Mobile Intensive Co. of Salem.
Each company rotates being the first to be called by city safety forces for one month. The ordinance requires a nine-minute response time. Failure to respond in time could result in a minor misdemeanor charge.
But citizens have complained that some response times were well over nine minutes. No one has claimed that someone died or suffered greater injury because of slow response times.
Tina Hull, Rural/Metro's division general manager, said it responds within nine minutes 90 percent of the time. She said that's within industry standards.
Karl Griggs, president and chief executive officer of KLG, said all his responses are within the nine minute limit. He said if he cannot make the response time, he does not respond.
Bad comparisons
But Hull contended that resulted in an unfair comparison since Griggs didn't take calls when he knew he could not make it on time.
Griggs said Rural/Metro has called volunteer services at township fire departments instead of using him or other companies.
Both companies said they do refer calls to each other.
Complications
To complicate the debate, the city's calls for an ambulance are a small portion of all emergency calls. Many city residents simply call an ambulance directly with no contact with the city. Schory said in that case, the city ordinance doesn't apply.
Schory also said that the response time wouldn't apply if a major emergency tied up ambulances outside the city.
Griggs said that when his company is on call for a month, it gets about 21 calls a month from the city. That drops significantly in the next month when his company is not on call.
Schory told the ambulance company officials, "Until we clarify this, do what you're doing."
wilkinson@vindy.com