Owner selling property where service provider has headquarters
By Patrick Lester
Morning Call (Allentown, Pennsylvania)
Copyright 2007 The Morning Call, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Mike Stebulis says he’ll run his Dublin-based ambulance company out of someone’s house if that’s what it takes to stay in business.
He may have no choice.
Stebulis and fellow workers at Dublin Regional EMS are getting forced out of the only home they’ve had since opening in 2002. They have until April 15 to find a new property to rent.
Stebulis, the company’s chief, is optimistic he can have something lined up before mid-April, but he’s vowing to keep an ambulance on the road no matter what it takes.
“We’ve had offers to shack up at a house,” Stebulis said. “One way or another, we’ll have something set up.”
Dublin Regional’s staff found out earlier this month that it has to move out of its headquarters — a storage building behind the former Wachovia Bank building at 145 N. Main St. in Dublin. Wachovia is in the process of selling the site. The company wouldn’t reveal who plans to buy the property.
Stebulis said he’s been eyeing at least three properties in the Dublin area as possible sites for the nonprofit’s next home. He said the organization is looking to rent space in a nearby building, although it would have to keep its lone ambulance outside.
Ambulance companies that provide basic life support services — those that don’t carry medications and don’t have a paramedic on duty — aren’t required to store vehicles indoors, according to the state Health Department.
Stebulis said Dublin Regional, which opened in 2002 after the Dublin Fire Company decided to shut down its ambulance unit, is on the “upswing” despite past financial struggles and the fact that it recently had to lay off some employees.
Stebulis said his organization, which now has seven or eight emergency medical technicians, would start to bring back those laid-off employees when its finances allow it.
Dublin’s financial problems are not unique. Many ambulance companies in the region and state have had difficulty in recent years partly because their revenue hasn’t kept up with the rising cost of employees and medical equipment. Some ambulance squads have begun asking townships and boroughs for more funding through either donations or a designated ambulance tax.
Nearby Perkasie Community Ambulance announced earlier this month that it was closing for 30 days. That organization has been plagued by financial and management problems in recent years.
The problems have become so dire in Upper Bucks that several towns commissioned a state study to come up with a way to offer more efficient and better funded ambulance services. That study is due out in mid-April.
Because of its financial constraints, Dublin Regional was staffed only about seven hours per day, on average, during January and February, according to Bucks County records. That was down significantly from 2006, when Dublin Regional was in service an average of 19 hours per day for the year.
The nonprofit took in $159,078 and spent $149,333 in 2004, the most recent year for which financial information was available.
Recently, the squad has been on duty 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, as well as 6 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Saturday, times when ambulance companies traditionally are most needed.
“This business is really a double-edged sword,” Stebulis said. “If we put people on 24 hours a day and don’t run calls, we’re paying people to sit here. If we don’t put people on and miss calls, we don’t make any money.”
Unlike advanced life support services that offer paramedic services and carry narcotics in their vehicles, basic units such as Dublin’s aren’t required to operate around the clock.
When Dublin isn’t staffed, crews from other squads respond to calls in its area, which includes Dublin and parts of Bedminster, East Rockhill, Hilltown, New Britain and Plumstead townships.
The closest companies — Point Pleasant-Plumsteadville and Central Bucks — are five and 5.7 miles away, respectively. The others are between eight and 18 miles away.
Officials in Dublin and Bedminster said they are willing to help the ambulance company find a new home.
“We’re trying to find a location that they can get into at least temporarily because we think the service they provided is absolutely important,” said Bedminster Supervisor Eric Schaffhausen.
Dublin Mayor Kent Moore said his borough invited Dublin Regional representatives to its Monday night council meeting.
“If I have to step in, I’ll do whatever I can to save some type of ambulance service,” Moore said. “I definitely think we need an ambulance in this area.”