By Monica Pryts
Allied News
GROVE CITY, Pa. — When Doug Dick asked emergency medical service workers to stand while he testified about the EMS crisis, nearly everyone in the crowd got to their feet.
“How many of you would be willing to join their ranks today? To go out there and do the things they do and see the things they see, day in and day out for complete strangers?” he asked.
Dick, EMS chief and founder of Superior Ambulance Service and Education Institute in Pine Township, was one of six people who testified Tuesday at the Pennsylvania House Majority Policy Committee hearing held at the Grove City borough building.
About 50 people attended the hearing, which was hosted by Rep. Tim Bonner, R-8, Pine Township, and Rep. Parke Wentling, R-17, Hempfield Township.
Committee Chair Rep. Martin Causer, R-67, Turtlepoint, led the hearing.
It was livestreamed and lasted nearly three hours as those testifying discussed funding and staffing issues, response times, the need to better educate the public and more.
“We have learned a great deal,” Bonner said of a regional EMS task force that has been meeting for the past year.
Many of the discussions have centered on ambulance services. Dick, who’s worked in EMS for 46 years, said he’s blessed to be able to work with dedicated crews who give their souls to care for others.
Superior Ambulance covers 22 municipalities in four counties, and operations are more strained than ever.
The biggest challenge for leaders like Dick is financial sustainability, especially in relation to how the company gets paid for its services.
They do not get paid unless they transport a patient, and health insurance companies can decide after the fact that the transport wasn’t medically necessary, resulting in no payment to Superior Ambulance, he said.
“We need help today,” Dick said.
He’s looking to county and state legislators and the 22 municipalities for that help. He’s learned that the towns can pass a half-mill property tax increase to be used for EMS; if all 22 said “OK,” that would generate just over $234,000.
Municipalities are also permitted to put local services tax revenue toward EMS, but very little of that is being done, he said.
Or perhaps lawmakers could consider a 1 percent sales tax with proceeds going to EMS. Fire departments are struggling, too, Dick said.
Mercer County has 122 active EMS workers; that’s not a lot when you consider 105,000 residents plus visitors, he said.
The numbers are on the decline now that people can make more money working retail or in food service with very little training, or they end up working elsewhere in the healthcare field, he said.
EMS workers deal with death and the dying, sometimes children, and other horrific calls that could affect their mental health.
“They take those home, and some of them take it to their grave,” Dick said.
There have been more reimbursements for EMS, so progress is being made, Wentling said.
“But it’s very clear that we have to do more,” he said.
Committee member Jim Rigby, who served as a volunteer firefighter and with his department’s ambulance service, said there’s been talk of allowing municipalities to increase property taxes for EMS by 1.5 mills instead of a half mill.
Towns already use tax dollars on purchases from private companies, like road materials, so helping Superior Ambulance would be similar, Dick said.
There have been more drug overdose calls, Rigby said with Dick noting that they can’t make an overdose patient agree to transport, which means no payment for the time the ambulance company put into the call.
Mental health calls are also on the rise — another serious issue that needs to be addressed — and that doesn’t always necessitate a transport.
“When patients are having a bad day, they call 911,” Dick said.
Mercer County Coroner John Libonati has spent 40 years in EMS and hospital settings; he’s seen things grow and flourish then decline.
In Virginia, a $5 fee for EMS was added to motor vehicle registration bills, and it generated millions of dollars, he said.
“Let’s look at what’s out there that’s working,” he said.
Mercer County has 45,000 households across 683 square miles and 48 municipalities, each with its own emergency response plan, said Frank Jannetti, Mercer County public safety director.
The 911 center in Mercer gets 8,000 to 9,000 calls a year. Dispatchers send ambulances on a rotating basis and sometimes have to scramble to find an available crew.
John Chlpka, president of Jackson borough council, explained how the ambulance response in his town is not really comparable to other towns since it has about 200 residents.
Response times have been getting longer, but the blame can’t be put on Superior Ambulance because the company is struggling, he said.
Residents have limited funds, so it would be logical to ask the county and state government for help.
But Jackson Center is not powerless, Chlpka said.
Borough leaders want to educate their residents about emergency response services and offer classes like Stop the Bleed and CPR.
He added that he doesn’t understand why some other towns are resistant to using some tax money on a private company that provides a vital service.
Causer’s town has a half-mill tax for EMS. There was some hesitation when the idea was introduced, but there have been no complaints, he said.
Dr. David Tupponce, president of AHN Grove City, said the hospital relies on EMS to help with transport if a patient has to go to a another facility for care not offered locally.
Last week, an AHN patient lost out on a bed in intensive care at another hospital because a transport crew could not be secured by the time the hospital was ready to reassign the bed.
The answers to the problem aren’t simple, but all stakeholders need to be involved and reimbursement rates need to go up, he said.
Dr. Aaron Rhone, director of the Pennsylvania Department of Health Bureau of EMS, said that Pennsylvania is one of 11 states that has deemed EMS an essential service.
The bureau has been working on expanding its educational offerings, he said.
In some cases, that will be re-education. Some hospitals call 911 directly for emergency transport, which is not an appropriate use of the system.
Tuesday’s testimony will be used to help draft legislation, and there are grants to consider, Causer said.
“This fight will continue,” Bonner said.
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