City, TAMC reach tentative ambulance agreement

     PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — At a press conference held Tuesday morning at Council Chambers at City Hall, Presque Isle officials joined representatives of TAMC in announcing they’ve reached a tentative agreement on shared ambulance services. The agreement will include keeping an ambulance at the Presque Isle Fire Department and one Crown Ambulance crew member, with a firefighter serving as the second emergency responder, should an ambulance be needed.
Present for the meeting were: Fire Chief Darrell White; Deputy City Manager Martin Puckett; Roland Joy, TAMC’s vice president of patient care services; and Benjamin Everett, Crown Emergency Care (CEC) Ambulance Services supervisor.
“The city has been interested in partnering (with Crown Emergency Care and TAMC) for quite some time. Though this differs from what we looked at in the beginning, we’ve had many meetings where we brainstormed ideas and this is what we’ve come up with,” said Puckett. “We’ve met with Crown officials on services and what we could add to the situation.”
Puckett said the PIFD has a “hardworking crew” and it was just a matter of looking for ways the city could supplement service.
“I think we’ve come up with the best form possible. City Council approved the memorandum of understanding at Monday’s meeting, giving their full support to the proposal. Under the agreement, the ambulance and a crew member would be stationed at the PIFD 24/7, with the department providing a driver,” said Puckett, noting the city’s proud of the department’s call response time and that city officials think this is a “great partnership.”
The tentative plan was drafted by a joint TAMC/city work group which included Councilors Craig Green and Bruce Sargent.
“Our collective goal is to see residents receive the highest quality and level of care possible,” said Joy. “This unit will be first to respond to calls in the Star City and be second for calls to Washburn, Easton, Mapleton, Chapman and Castle Hill. Crown Emergency Care will maintain line coverage with current crews to assure back-up coverage to Presque Isle. During fire calls, CEC will call in a crew to allow the city to respond fully.”
Under the agreement, TAMC will pay the PIFD a fee of $70,000 a year for the use of the firefighter/driver. CEC will provide the ambulance, as well as all equipment and a paramedic staff member located at the fire station.
TAMC will additionally pay PIFD $30 per call-out. Calls outside of Presque Isle by the combined crew will be based on actual cost of the city; however, under the tentative agreement, Joy said TAMC will pay no more than $100,000 annually to the city.
“We are proud to partner with CEC and TAMC to provide Presque Isle residents with quality paramedic service and timely ambulance transport. City staff and TAMC officials have put a great deal of thought and care into the tentative agreement with service to residents being the top priority. While there are still details that need to be ironed out, we are confident that this collaboration will have a positive impact on the community,” said Puckett.
CEC/TAMC officials view the agreement to work collaboratively with the city of Presque Isle to provide ambulance service to residents as one that will preserve the region’s premier emergency transport service and help mitigate some of the financial constraints faced by municipalities.
“We are pleased to have worked collaboratively with the city of Presque Isle to develop a plan we believe will benefit the community. Throughout our discussions with city officials, our goal has been to ensure that area residents continue to receive the highest quality and level of emergency pre-hospital care possible. The level of care we offer through our highly-trained team of paramedics has direct correlation to better patient outcomes. National studies support this,” said Joy.
“TAMC operates CEC as a service to the community. It is not a profit-making venture. As The County’s largest non-profit organization and most comprehensive provider of health care, TAMC takes seriously our role to provide this and other services to area residents. The financial imperative of both the city and CEC made it clear that it could not be business as usual moving forward; however, we are pleased that we have been able to come together in this way to do what is in the best interest of the citizens and patients we serve,” Joy said.
When asked what, if any, impact this will have on routing calls, White said there shouldn’t be any effect.
“Calls, for now, will still be routed through Crown, which will dispatch ambulances as needed, so there should be no effect on those calling 9-1-1 in an emergency,” said White.
White told councilors Monday night that his staff had already designated space for CEC personnel at the firehouse.
“They’re looking forward to working with Crown staff,” said White.
Over the coming weeks, further discussions between the city and TAMC, as well as with employees of the PIFD and CEC, will focus on details of implementing a shared services model.