Ill. town considers fee for repeated non-transport 911 calls
$100 charge would begin with 6th call for service in a year
By Marie Wilson
Chicago Daily Herald
LOMBARD, Ill. — Repeatedly calling 911 for in-home assistance may soon come with a cost in Lombard.
Trustees are considering an ordinance that would give 911 calls for help without transportation to a hospital a $100 price tag beginning with the sixth call each year and including all additional calls.
If the fee were in place in 2011, nine residents would have been charged for at least one paramedic response, according to a memo from Lombard fire Lt. Paul DiRienzo.
Of those nine residents, five are in their 80s or older, and the other four have health issues such as multiple sclerosis, a history of stroke or heart problems.
The fee received preliminary approval and was set to be
approved officially Thursday night, but Trustee Zachary Wilson asked for it to be considered again at the Lombard village board's March 15 meeting.
"I'm concerned about the ability to pay of someone who's 80 years old," Wilson said.
The fee could be waived by Lombard Finance Director Tim Sexton based on an evaluation of the resident's ability to pay.
Acting fire Chief Jerry Howell said the fire department works to educate residents who frequently call 911 for in-home assistance about social service agencies or home care providers that could help.
"We know that when we see a case that would trigger this ordinance, our first recourse would be to do some sort of intervention," Howell said.
Department personnel would pay a personal visit to the person's home and suggest organizations that could meet their health care needs and improve their quality of life, according to DiRienzo's memo. Residents also could be referred to the Association for Individual Development, an Aurora-based social services agency the village has contracted to provide counseling, advocacy, education and intervention for people or families in need.
"We've done a lot of outreach to our residents, especially through our victim services, which is our third party, as to reduce invalid assists," Lombard Village Manager David Hulseberg said.
The 293 calls for in-home assistance, also known as "invalid assists," made up 6 percent of the 4,593 ambulance calls the Lombard Fire Department received in 2011.
If the fee receives final approval, Lombard will become the fourth fire department in DuPage County to implement a fee structure for ambulance service, joining Naperville and Warrenville and the Tri-State Fire Protection District in the Darien area.
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Skip Kirkwood Wednesday, March 07, 2012 4:08:03 AM Given those numbers, why the fuss? Small organization, not terribly busy, and 293 invalid assists?
These fees are NOT payable by insurance, and if the 80-year old needs the help, they need the help! Where is the compassion, humanity, service to the community? The agency will spend more money keeping track of this and trying to collect the bills than it will ever see in cash! 
Patrick Noonan Wednesday, March 07, 2012 5:56:59 AM Agreed,where is the compassion?Have we become so distracted with other problems that we have lost the will to help those in need?Especially that elderly,when this happpens its time to find a new profession because I am here to treat and HELP those in need no matter how big or small the situation.
Dawn Poetter Wednesday, March 07, 2012 6:02:49 AM Don't these people pay taxes? Why not start a system when you have the medics that go out and do inhome checks and care?
Jim Dinsch Wednesday, March 07, 2012 6:27:48 AM OK. To play the other side here, I'm sure before most services billed people said the same thing when that started. It's not a secret. Tax dollars are fewer. Staffing is less. And these types of calls drain manpower and apparatus resources the same as a transport. And most view tax dollars as a standby fee, not a service fee. This fee as the story indicates is for the 7th assist call in a year. Someone that needs that much help, needs someone to help in their home, not in their firehouse. I'm all about service. Heck, I more or less got ushered out of a volunteer position for suggesting we could improve our service level. But at the end of the day, that service comes at a cost. If other options have been looked at and this is the best they could do, then it's probably necessary to ensure resources will be there for other emergencies. It's not ideal, but it may be where we're headed. Skip Kirkwood Wednesday, March 07, 2012 2:17:14 PM I say run the calls and have the chief ask for a budget increase. We are talking about de minimis work here - less than one call a day, that probably takes 20 minutes. I will bet you a beer that this service has a UHU of less than 0.50, so staff are not on calls 1/2 of the work day.
