By Tom Knapp
Intelligencer Journal (Lancaster, Pennsylvania)
Copyright 2006 Lancaster Newspapers, Inc.
In the end, more than 40 years of experience won out.
After a four-hour meeting Tuesday, Columbia Borough Council voted to retain Susquehanna Valley EMS for basic ambulance service.
The decision caps 15 months of contentious debate over the level and quality of service provided. It also ends an effort by Columbia Quick Response Services to take over the job, which QRS officials claim they are able to do better and more quickly than SV-EMS.
“We’re not losers here by any measure,” QRS executive director Frank Splain Jr. said after the meeting. “We’re going to continue to provide a much-needed service in Columbia Borough.”
While the 5-2 vote by council was certainly a win for SV-EMS, Splain said, “They still have to change their ways. We’re going to be the continuous Band-Aid that we have been.”
Susquehanna Valley EMS has more than 40 years of experience in the borough, SV-EMS president Mike Fitzgibbons said. The group was formed in 1999 when the much-older Columbia and Hempfield community ambulance associations merged.
QRS was formed through Columbia Consolidated Fire Department in July 2003 when Lancaster General Hospital-Susquehanna Division closed its doors. QRS’ purpose, Splain said, was to provide basic medical care until an ambulance arrived.
The notion of expanding QRS’ service to include basic ambulance services was raised by Columbia Mayor Leo Lutz, Splain said. Lutz voiced concerns with the existing service.
“At the time, we thought he was joking,” Splain said.
But, after looking at local response and on-scene times, he said, “we did finally realize there were significant problems” in the borough.
“It’s more than running red lights,” Splain said. “It’s more than the name of who’s doing what.”
If someone is in need of aid, he said, “she doesn’t care what color the ambulance is or what it says on the side of the vehicle. She wants it there in a timely fashion.”
That is a major point of concern, said Splain, who claims Susquehanna Valley EMS crews often do not have an ambulance available in the borough, turn up late to emergency scenes and often can be found sitting in a convenience store parking lot rather than at its station.
Splain said he has evidence of at least one instance in which SV-EMS called in its arrival to a scene at least seven minutes before it actually arrived.
“If Columbia Quick Response is deemed to be the ambulance service for Columbia Borough, we will have dedicated ambulances in the borough of Columbia,” he said. “We will be sitting in your borough on Union Street awaiting dispatch.”
Fitzgibbons dismissed Splain’s charges, noting for instance that an SV-EMS ambulance usually stationed in Mount Joy moves to the convenience store parking lot when on call to provide quick response to the borough if needed.
Creation of a new EMS provider in the area would duplicate resources, fragment care and increase the overall cost of service, Fitzgibbons said.
He recommended merging SV-EMS and QRS.
“If we start to work together, that would be the better outcome,” he said later.
“There are some areas that we need to work on, and we are willing to do that,” Fitzgibbons said. “But it makes absolutely no sense to duplicate services that are already here. We should spend the money to upgrade what we have.”
More than 100 people, many in SV-EMS uniforms, filled the meeting hall Tuesday. Several residents voiced their opinions, with most coming down on the side of Susquehanna Valley.
Some favored the incumbent group for its long tradition and local ties, while others touted its financial stability and broader base of resources.
A third agency, DRS Transport, also was vying for the job but removed itself from the running Tuesday night.
“There was a lot of mudslinging between the organizations ... but you have to put your personal feelings aside and do what’s best for the community,” DRS manager Robert Hetter said. “It’s in the best interest of the residents to keep what we have. And I would love to be a part of what we have.”
Hetter withdrew DRS’ bid to be the borough’s primary server, asking instead to be considered a secondary service to SV-EMS.
“Can DRS handle it? Potentially,” he said. “But can we handle it with the pride and dedication of Susquehanna Valley? No. ... We’d like to withdraw our offer of providing primary (service).”
DRS could fill gaps when Susquehanna Valley responders are otherwise occupied, he said.
“We probably have the best ambulance service in the commonwealth,” Hetter said. “The goal of DRS Transport LLC is not to compete against them but work with them 100 percent.”
Councilman Michael Beury made the motion to retain SV-EMS as the primary responder.
“I think the QRS has done an outstanding job. I like them here, and I think they will continue to do an outstanding job backing up the regular ambulance service,” he said. “But I see no reason to change.”
Council members Scott Ryno and Sandy Duncan moved to table the matter, urging all three service providers to meet and discuss some form of cooperative agreement among them. The motion was defeated 5-2.
“I think we’ve belabored this long enough,” Beury said. “We have other items of business on this council to take care of.”
SV-EMS was retained, with Ryno and Duncan voting against the measure.
Councilwoman Mary Wickenheiser said the EMS evaluation/review process, if nothing else, has encouraged Susquehanna Valley to re-examine its operations.
“This process has been good because it’s put you guys on your toes,” she said. “We accepted what we were getting ... and you have not been communicating with the residents of Columbia Borough.
“What the QRS has done has been a wake-up call for SV-EMS, and I hope they stay awake.”