City Ambulances Staying at Home
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PAYING MORE FOR THE RIDE
= Council recently increased the charge for Basic Life Support from $200 to $279.89 per ambulance trip. Before March 5, 2003, the city charged $50 for BLS.
The increase from $50 to nearly $280 amounts to about a 460-percent increase over the past five years.
WHEELING - Councilman Vernon Seals and Fire Chief Larry Helms have decided that city ambulances will only take patients to Wheeling Hospital and Ohio Valley Medical Center.
This means the new $107,000 ambulance City Council bought this week - and every other squad in the Wheeling Fire Department fleet - will no longer transport patients to East Ohio Regional Hospital in Martins Ferry, Belmont Community Hospital in Bellaire or Reynolds Memorial Hospital in Glen Dale.
"If someone is having a true emergency in the city of Wheeling, they should go to Wheeling Hospital or OVMC because those are the closest hospitals," Helms said.
Helms noted he gave the order to stop transporting patients to hospitals outside Wheeling last week after consulting with Seals.
"My objective is to make sure the citizens of Wheeling have access to an ambulance at all times," Seals said, while maintaining that taking the emergency vehicles outside city limits could endanger residents.
"I know of one particular time when Squad 1 (ambulance) went to East Ohio Regional. While they were over there, they got a call for service on (Wheeling) Island, but they couldn't get there because of a train crossing in front of the bridge," he said in reference to the Military Order of the Purple Heart Bridge that spans the back channel of the Ohio River between Wheeling Island and Bridgeport.
"We had to stop this because someone was eventually going to be stuck without an ambulance," Seals added.
Seals also said it should not matter if someone who lives in Martins Ferry, Bellaire or Glen Dale has a medical emergency while they are in the city of Wheeling because they should still go to the closest hospital.
"If I am in Pittsburgh, I am not going to expect the people up there to bring me back to Wheeling to go to the hospital," he said.
Jerry Kyle, director to the West Virginia Office of Emergency Medical Services, said Wheeling and other cities have the authority to control where their ambulances will travel.
"As long as they are meeting the medical needs of the patient, the city can set rules for things such as this," he said.
Helms said Wheeling Fire Department - which maintains two squads on full-time duty and a back-up squad for extraordinary circumstances - left city limits 40 times in 2007.
"Because less than 1 percent of our calls in 2007 went outside the city limits, this should not be that big of an adjustment," he said of the policy change.
Wheeling Hospital spokesman Gregg Warren said he was unaware of the decision, but did not believe it would have much of an impact on any of the hospitals.
"I don't think there are too many people in Wheeling who would be going across the river to go to the hospital," he said.
OVMC and EORH spokeswoman Maggie Espina also did not anticipate much of a change for these hospitals.
"I would not anticipate that any decision made by the city of Wheeling would have much of an impact on East Ohio Regional," she said.
In the event that Wheeling Hospital and OVMC would be overwhelmed with patients, Helms said fire department crews would consider leaving the city.
Seals also noted that a patient who has suffered great trauma may need to go to Morgantown or Pittsburgh to receive proper care.
"If there was no other way to get them there, I could see us taking the patient to those places, and I have no problem with that. I just think we need to make sure that the ambulance that our taxpayers pay for is available to them when they need it," he said.
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Tenente61
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08-25-08 11:21 PM
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At least spell my name right.
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justoutside2
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08-25-08 7:42 PM
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bernie, thats because you choose to let everyone know who you are.
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cigam87
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08-24-08 3:15 PM
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FYI..The paramedics from Wheeling that I've spoken to since this article has been posted love the idea of not having to transport outside of the city limits. I thinks it's great more power to you guys..keep up the good work. They don't always see the same calls as volunteers do for "rural ems" such as farm tractor accidents and atv accidents but they see more shootings than outside the city limits. And they have more "saves" with their cardiac arrests. Their call volume is way higher than any other dept. in the area whether they're BS or true emergencies. Hopefully the pts preference will be OV or WMP.
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OldTown
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08-24-08 1:46 PM
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I believe it's the right of the City Fire Chief to keep his squads close to home. Many cities in America employ the same policy. Also get a clue, your assertion that paid departments handle way more calls per year than volunteers can't be used as a blanket statement. There are volunteer houses in other parts of the country that surround major cities that see as much trauma, just as many runs, and have more "pump time" than their career counterparts nearby.
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Tenente61
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08-24-08 9:20 AM
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justoutside2...It is obviuos you know who I am. Why don't you let me know who you are? Maybe we could discuss and debate our topics outside this forum. You know where I work.
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Tenente61
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08-24-08 9:15 AM
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I am stating facts. It is a good thing for communities that do not have a paid dept. Also, If somebody would do your job for free you may feel threatened. I have many friends who are volunteers and was one myself. But the facts are facts. It is nothing personal.
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justoutside2
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08-24-08 7:46 AM
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tenente, why are you so threatened by the volunteers, you should at least be supportive for the job that they do. i know you are paid and they are not but you could say something positive about them once in a while.
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adenarocks42
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08-23-08 10:46 PM
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i understand what you are saying but to clarify what i am saying is that wheeling fire does emergencies only... bs or not.. they do not do non emergency transport like the paid service do... i worked for a paid service for 10 years ... they do both emergency and non emergency..... and this isn't about every service in the valley it is about wheeling... and they are just trying to limit risks and and provide timely service when they are needed .... this doesn't include calls that are called in as emergencies but turn out to be BS no one knows that until they arrive on scene... and those calls most of all need to go to the closest hospital because it makes no sence at all to tie up an ALS ambulance on a BS cab ride out of town .... sorry about my typo's on the 1st one... this is the edited one ^^^^^
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adenarocks42
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08-23-08 10:39 PM
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i understand what you are saying but to clarify what i am saying is that wheeling fire does emergencies only bs or not they do not do non emergency transport like the paid service do i worked for a paid service for 10 years ... they do both emergency and non emergency..... and this isn't about every service in the valley it is about wheeling... and they are just trying to limit risks and and provide timely service when they are needed .... this doesn't include call that are called in as emergencies but turn out to be BS no one knows that until they arrive on scene... and thoise call most of all need to go top the closest hospital because it makes no sence at all to tie up an ALS ambulance on a BS cab ride out of town
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Tenente61
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08-23-08 8:52 PM
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justoutside2...Actually the volunteer squads have to respond from home to the firehouse and then to the scene. These same squads already have trouble answering calls in the daytime due to a shortage of available personel. So, it is not always on a moments notice per se. The private paid ambulances are many times not available in the daytime due to routine inter hospital and nursing home transports. It is about response time....Not Vern Seals.
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cigam87
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08-23-08 4:22 PM
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I beg to differ with you but Wheeling does not do only emergencies. When the call comes out it's an emergency until EMS gets there then they find out it's a BS call and they have to transport anyways when the pt could have called for a cab and you can ask any one of those paramedics that run with Wheeling and and they will tell you whether or not it was a BS call. True emergencies do need the closest facility I agree but not all calls are emergencies.
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adenarocks42
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08-23-08 1:33 PM
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i am not taking sides and i know that there are alot of BS calls , but what the article was talking about was a situation where an ambulance was out of town and was blocked comming back... i agree it shouild be patient prefference when appropriate ec. non emergency transport... they are talking about emergencies.. and wheeling only does emergencies.. and that needs to be to the nearest facility..... and if they are calling it an emergency then proticol says closest facility and is not wise to do anything else... if they take emergencies too far away they are risking patient safety and are at risk for delay to other in area calls.... know one know ecactly when a delay or a serious emergency will happen... so the risk needs to be minimized. it is just common sense !
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cigam87
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08-23-08 12:37 PM
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Tenente61. That's fine. Keep Wheeling fire in Wheeling. They only have 2 running squads at a time. And there are times when the "volunteers" have to come into Wheeling to do transports (no big deal). But bottom line is it should be up to the patient. If I'm requesting to go to Wheeling don't send me to Reynolds. If Wheeling fire is transporting from Woodsdale to OVMC and their other squad is transporting from North Wheeling to East Ohio there's not really much time difference between the two squads.
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justoutside2
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08-23-08 12:28 PM
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wether paid or volunteer it does not matter, they both do a terrific job. the delay from ferry would not matter when there are other paid and volunteer service's already here to fill in in a moments notice. the point here is that council person seals was trying to make an attempt to get some positive publicity for himself and he failed at it again. the real sufferers are the good residents that he represents.
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Tenente61
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08-23-08 2:01 AM
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cigam87...This is about keeping the ambulances in the city that they serve. It is about response time for the citizens of Wheeling. When seconds count, a response from out of the city will take longer than from one of our 2 local hospitals.
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Tenente61
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08-23-08 1:17 AM
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"My comments are because of the comment made by Tenente61 saying volunteer squads" again tiredofthiscrap57, Where did I state volunteer? I said some of these ambulances and reitterated that the private paid service sent a BLS unit. I never stated anything about the volunteers specifically.
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cigam87
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08-23-08 1:04 AM
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It doesn't matter what we think about it. Wheeling fire can do whatever they want. It should be patient preference within a reasonable amount of time (local) not UPMC or Ruby or OSU. If the patient is crashing then you need to transport to the closest facility but if they're stable (which about 90% are not true emergencies) then it should be up to the patient.
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GETACLUE
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08-23-08 12:03 AM
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Tiredofthiscrap...... If you call a city of Wheeling ambulance you are guaranteed to get an advanced life support ambulance staffed by at least 1 Paramedic and most times 2 Paramedics can the same be said of Volunteer ambulances? That is all that has been said , also quit misleading people by saying that both ambulances crews have the same training Paramedics go through way more training. Also Paid departments handle way more calls per year so they are WAY more EXPERIENCED. These are facts and regardless if you agree you can't sugar coat the COLD HARD FACTS.
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tiredofthiscrap57
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08-22-08 10:47 PM
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Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking paid departments. I think they are a great idea. If someone in my family is hurt or sick, seconds do count. But not every town / village / city is lucky enough to have paid departments. The thing that gets me is the paid depts keep knocking the volunteers, did you forget where you came from when you got a job as a paid emt? Most of you started out as volunteers. Most of you also look down your noses at us volunteers know because you are paid, that is just wrong. GET OVER YOURSELF. I'm not patting myself on the back either, I do the best that I can answering calls along with quite a few others all over this valley and I'm sure they don't like being talked down on because they are giving up their time to help someone else in need and NOT get paid. You are doing a job and getting paid, we are doing a job for free. Not sure where or what the BLS squad like Fork Ridge comment was about or what it means but whatever.
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tiredofthiscrap57
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08-22-08 10:42 PM
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My comments are because of the comment made by Tenente61 saying volunteer squads are not capable of taking care of a patient because a lot of them show up without a paramedic therefore only BLS can be done. As far as who peed on my wheaties, all the paid paragods out there that think their crap don't stink because they are on a paid department. Guess what, we all went to the same classes and got the same education to become EMT's, paramedic and firefighters. So you are no better than the rest of us. If Wheeling wants to keep their squads in Wheeling, fine and dandy, their choice and I totally understand. If you do have a true medical emergency you should go to the nearest hospital whether your doctor goes their or not, you can always go to the er and get stablized and then ask to be transferred to whichever hospital your doctor attends. If it's not a true medical emergency CALL A TAXI CAB (THEY ARE YELLOW and DON'T HAVE LIGHTS AND SIRENS).
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BUCS16
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08-22-08 7:47 PM
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$50 for an ambulance ride in 2003 it cost me more for a cab ride
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adenarocks42
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08-22-08 7:20 PM
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ok ok .... i was in the ems field for 15 years and i can tell you personally that it doesn't matter who is pay or who is volunteer .. we have fine services on either side of the spectrum here.... when all ems people are trained we are made aware of the ( GOLDEN HOUR ) that is the time from onset of injury or illness to the time definitive care is provided... now let me ask you all a question.... if yourloved one was dying of cardiac arrest or they were hit by a car wouldn't you want them to the closeplace to be helped concidering that it takes all of 6 minutes to die.... you can't get them quick help if they are being transported to another state or if an ambulance cannot get to them because them have gone too far out of the area taking another person a fair distance away... it all boils down to practicality and responding in a timely fashion....
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OVnative
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08-22-08 6:40 PM
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Some people have doctors that aren't authorized to practice at the Wheeling hospitals which may be the reason they request to go to another hospital. If the patient is paying the bill they should be able to go where they want. Ohio's e squads don't tell the patients where they have to go and neither should Wheeling's.
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cigam87
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08-22-08 4:19 PM
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Tiredofthiscrap watch what you wish for you may end up with a "BLS" squad like Fork Ridge!
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Tenente61
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08-22-08 3:54 PM
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tiredofthiscrap57...Done patting yourself on the back? We have had paid private services show up with only EMT basics. Never said anything to run down the volunteers. Facts are facts. justoutside2....The idea is to keep lower response times and not have our ambulances across the river in their time of need. No logical reason to go to an outside of town hospital in a true emergency when this town has 2 very highly rated hospitals that both share a Trauma center designation. It is all about protection of the citizens of Wheeling. and finally..richardwhee and BlaBla....You are right...People are making a mountain out of a mole hill. This is in the best interest of the "majority" of the citizens of Wheeling
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