Agreement with Crown Emergency Care expires
After years of discussion and relying on the local hospital, Presque Isle’s city government is set to run its own E9-1-1 and ambulance service.
Presque Isle’s new E9-1-1 emergency ambulance services should be up and running within six months and will be operated out of the fire department, said fire chief Darrell White.
The service will have six paramedics, two full-time ambulances and one ambulance in reserve, with the expectation that it will be self-funding from emergency medical services revenue, White said.
The plan, approved by Presque Isle City Council in August, has been an idea of city leaders since at least 2009 – although it has raised some concerns by the city’s current EMS provider, The Aroostook Medical Center.
Since 1988, following the bankruptcy of a private ambulance company, TAMC’s Crown Emergency Care has served much of central Aroostook County from stations in Fort Fairfield, Limestone, Mars Hill and Presque Isle.
Since 2014, TAMC and Presque Isle have had a collaborative agreement through which Crown provides an ambulance and paramedic, stationed at the fire department, while the fire department provides an ambulance driver. The agreement – which expired Sept. 15 – also involved an annual payment from TAMC to the city of more than $100,000.
“We had hoped to extend this agreement, which we strongly believe has been beneficial to the city, neighboring communities and TAMC by making the most of limited resources,” said Roland Joy, vice president of patient care services at TAMC, in a media release. “We would prefer to remain with our current partnership.”
Joy said that TAMC is concerned that the existence of another EMS provider may not be financially sustainable, creating risks for both the city and TAMC. “With two ambulance services operating in one low-call volume area, there is a higher risk for one or both to fail” financially, he said.
White said the current arrangement has worked well. It started in 2014, when “budgets were a little tight” for the both the city government and the hospital and “it helped us both with our operational budgets.” But, he said, city leaders have been open about their interest in the municipal government eventually running a local emergency system.
Many communities across the country run ambulance systems through their fire departments with quality service and with solid financials, including Caribou, Houlton and Madawaska in Aroostook County, White said. He also added that Presque Isle’s E9-1-1 service will not be providing interfacility transportation, a major source of ambulance revenue that will be left to TAMC.
Both White and Joy said that the fire department and TAMC will be able to transition to a new arrangement without negative impacts to the quality of care, although Joy said that TAMC is still planning to address city council on the issue.
“Ultimately, we are still in hopes that we will be able to continue with our current collaborative model, which we believe will be beneficial to all,” Joy said.
