EDITORIAL: Ambulance study isn't just city issue

May 14--City Manager Bill Parrish is calling the need to pay for an ambulance study an "investment in public safety."

We can go along with the argument because there's nothing wrong with evaluating services, especially ones that are in place to protect the health and safety of the public.

Parrish said the study's purpose is to assess whether or not the Owensboro Fire Department could take over the full-time duties of the ambulance service.

Since 2008, the city, county and Owensboro Health have been in a year-to-year agreement with Yellow Ambulance, which comes up for renewal every February. The contract is overseen by the Medical Control Authority -- a public board with members who represent each of the three parties.

Under the current deal, no taxpayer money is exchanged with Yellow Ambulance. The private ambulance company just receives the exclusive rights to operate in Owensboro-Daviess County.

However, Judge-Executive Al Mattingly said the county hasn't been asked to contribute to the study financially or otherwise.

And the hospital's response was, "We were not asked directly by the city to be involved in the study regarding the ambulance service, but we are well aware of what is taking place as we have four employees who are active with the Medical Control Authority board of directors."

So here's the question we have: How is it possible to have three intermingled entities dependent on the same ambulance service, but City Hall doesn't deem it necessary to involve the county and the hospital in this study?

We don't doubt the legitimacy behind seeking ways to improve public safety.

But the city likely views the ambulance service as a potential revenue source. Why else even think about adding another service when there is a capable private ambulance company that's meeting the city's and county's emergency needs at no direct cost to the taxpayer?

We're sure the city is also looking at the fact that OFD is already the first responders to all emergencies -- fire, medical runs and wrecks -- and has been since 2006.

In that first year (November 2006 to November 2007), fire units arrived at the scene of medical emergencies before ambulances about 60 to 65 percent of the time, according to an earlier Messenger-Inquirer report. In those cases, the average response time was four minutes for fire crews and four and a half minutes for Yellow Ambulance.

All city firefighters are trained EMTs and have the ability to stabilize patients until the arrival of the ambulance. But so far, only one of the city's 94 firefighters is a licensed paramedic, meaning more training or staff would have to be added to meet the essential advanced life support care that can't be provided by EMTs.

Another question is what happens if the data returns in OFD's favor? Where would that put the county and hospital? It's doubtful Yellow Ambulance would be willing to stick around if the city no longer required its services.

At this point, it seems the study and its potential outcome raise more questions than answers.

What we do know, however, is that the city shouldn't be going down this road alone. Both the county and hospital have huge stakes in this study and by no means should they be left out of the loop.

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