Smithfield to pursue ambulance corps
SMITHFIELD – With Fayette EMS pulling its ambulance service out of the borough, council met at a special meeting Friday to name a new emergency ambulance-service provider. Council president Jack Frith said he was told by the ambulance company’s Rick Adobato that Fayette EMS has not received enough paying calls to support an ambulance base in the borough.
Frith said county emergency records don’t agree with Adobato’s statement that Fayette EMS received only 30 paying calls last year.
“I find it hard to believe that there were only 30 paying calls when there were over 700 ambulance calls in this area last year. I don’t know what their financial problem is, but I’d imagine it has more to do with paying top wages to those who aren’t involved in more than administration,” Frith said.
Contacted after Friday’s meeting, Adobato said the call volume was closer to 600, but Fayette EMS received only an average of 18 paying calls each month. With accident responses, the number sometimes crept up to 23, but the company needs an average of 100 paying calls per month to keep the ambulance, he said. Adobato noted that the ambulance often was pulled for performing non-emergency calls, in order to keep the crew active.
Councilwoman Wendi Dice said the uncertain Fayette EMS situation was the reason she was against the borough building another structure behind the existing borough office to house the ambulance company. One of the three garage bays in the new building was intended to house the Fayette EMS ambulance for a monthly rental cost.
“Any agreement that they would have signed (to lease the garage bay) could have been broken,” she said.
Discussing the open area, Frith said he has been thinking about the feasibility of the borough re-establishing its own ambulance corps. The borough had an ambulance company through the fire department. Later, the company merged with Fairchance’s ambulance company before closing.
Frith said some Pittsburgh hospitals offer grant programs and assistance in forming local ambulance companies, in exchange for having seats on the ambulance board, overseeing operations.
This approach, he said, would allow the borough to have a few paid employees to staff an ambulance without having to worry about huge administrative costs.
He also suggested seeing if the Smithfield Volunteer Fire Department is interested in co-hosting an ambulance crew or working with Fairchance Firemen’s Ambulance. In the interim, council chose Fairchance to respond to emergency calls in the borough.
“I am certain Fairchance will give us good service, as many people in the area already use their service,” said Mayor Chuck Ciezynski.
Adobato agreed, stating that was why he recommended that the borough name Fairchance as its ambulance provider.
“Before Fairchance opened up, we had all of Georges, both boroughs, part of Nicholson and Springhill (townships). Now it’s divided and we have the smaller part of the pie. They are already there,” he said.
Frith said Fayette EMS subscribers should be entitled to a partial refund of their membership cost.
“They were only in the borough for eight months out of the year. They aren’t going to be here for the last four months, and I think that the people deserve to get that part of their money back,” he said.
Frith asked those residents who had purchased memberships to contact the borough to get assistance in obtaining refunds.
Adobato agreed that the membership holders would be entitled to a partial refund, but he had no suggestions on what to do for membership service in an emergency.
“We told the borough we wouldn’t just close our doors and ignore them.
“We will still be in the area if needed. But as for memberships, I just don’t know,” Adobato said.
He suggested that residents contact Fairchance Firemen’s Ambulance about interim or part-year subscriptions.
Council also conducted the following business Friday:
– Announced that a Crime Watch meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday at the borough building, featuring guest speaker District Justice Randy Abraham.
– Listed the recent winners in the borough library reading contest: first place – Jan Koposko, Casey Radicic, Amber Machosky and Caitlyn Jacobson; second place – Krystle Radicic, Olivia Smith, Gabrielle Smith and Courtney Grimm; and third place – Katie O’Rourke, P.J. O’Rourke, Sara Swaney and Wesley Gower.