By Martin Salazar
Albuquerque Journal (New Mexico)
Copyright 2007 Albuquerque Journal
LAS VEGAS, N.M. — The ambulance company providing service to Las Vegas, N.M., and San Miguel County could be fined or even have its operational authority suspended for safety violations, the Public Regulation Commission announced Friday.
The city of Las Vegas has accused Rocky Mountain EMS of having committed six safety violations between Dec. 19, 2006, and Jan. 17. In three of the instances, the city alleged, Rocky Mountain showed up to emergency calls with only one person staffing the ambulance.
The city fire department was forced to lend the private ambulance service a firefighter to drive the ambulance to the hospital in all three instances, the city reported.
Upon hearing of the violations, PRC staff asked commissioners to sanction the company.
The commission held an emergency open meeting on Thursday to hear testimony about the alleged safety violations. After sitting through 10 hours of testimony and arguments, the commission determined that Rocky Mountain had understaffed its ambulance service in Las Vegas and San Miguel County on at least two occasions.
The commission has directed Rocky Mountain to immediately provide two fully staffed ambulances, meaning two staff members per ambulance. Those ambulances must be available for dispatch out of Las Vegas 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The company’s owner has also been required to develop a staffing compliance plan and to file that plan with the commission by Monday.
“The commission will consider if other sanctions are appropriate during their regular scheduled session on Feb. 20, 2007,” the PRC said in a news release issued late Friday. The commission’s options range from fining the company to suspending its authority to operate in Las Vegas and San Miguel County. Rocky Mountain is also certified to operate in Santa Fe and Los Alamos counties.
Albuquerque attorney Pat Rogers, who represents Rocky Mountain, argued during the hearing that the problems identified by the city were isolated incidents. He also noted that company officials had reached out to the city in letters on at least three separate occasions over the last year asking to work with them to improve service. Those efforts went ignored, he argued during Thursday’s hearing.
“Rocky Mountain is disappointed in the failure of the city of Las Vegas officials to respond to repeated requests for meetings to improve ambulance services in the city, and the proceeding was unnecessary,” Rogers said during a telephone interview on Friday. “Rocky Mountain will redouble its efforts to get the proper city and county people to meet to discuss ways to improve ambulance service.”
Rocky Mountain provides emergency transportation services through a month-to-month contract to the city of Las Vegas and San Miguel County. The city and county have been trying to replace Rocky Mountain with another ambulance service, but to date they’ve been unable to finalize the agreement.
Rocky Mountain has been the city of Las Vegas’ sole EMS provider since the fall of 1997, according to the company’s Web site.
PRC general counsel Carol Rising said the commission’s next move will be based on the severity of the violations. She said that if the commission were to suspend the company’s operational authority, any other carriers authorized to serve in that area would be called upon to fill the void. Even ambulance carriers not currently authorized to serve in San Miguel County could serve the area under mutual aid agreements, she said. The city’s allegations against Rocky Mountain are contained in a Jan. 31 letter from Las Vegas City Manager John Avila to a company official. The letter was copied to the PRC, sparking the state investigation. In addition to complaining that Rocky Mountain had shown up to three calls with only one employee, Avila cited three instances in which Rocky Mountain was reportedly unable to respond promptly to a call because units were outside the city.
“The way it’s supposed to work is they show up with enough people and enough vehicles,” Avila testified during cross-examination Thursday. “The reason I wrote the letter was because I saw an increase of lack of service. There was an increase in lack of service, and I wanted to report it to Rocky Mountain ... " Avila said.
Lt. Arthur Herrera, with the city fire department, testified that he was present on Dec. 19, 2006, when Rocky Mountain responded to a call on Collins Drive with only one person.
Herrera said his fire department staff helped load the patient - an elderly female with stroke symptoms - into the ambulance, and he was asked to allow one of his employees to drive the ambulance to the hospital.
“I depleted my crew to do this,” he said. Herrera also testified that if he had received a fire call while en route to the Collins Drive call, he would have had to divert to the fire, the department’s top priority. That would have left the ambulance without a driver, he added.