By Liese Klein
The Middletown Press
NORTH HAVEN, Conn. — Wrapped in distinctive shades of " Yale New Haven Health blue,” a brand new ambulance served as the backdrop Monday for an event celebrating the hospital system’s first acquisition of a medical transport firm.
Yale New Haven Health completed its purchase of North Haven’s Nelson Ambulance Service this month, adding about 225 employees, 29 ambulances and 28 other patient transport vehicles to its core operations in New Haven and Fairfield counties.
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“This has been a missing component of our health system,” Yale New Haven Health CEO Christopher O’Connor told a group of employees, local leaders and guests at Nelson’s facility at 208 Quinnipiac Ave. “Now, we can begin to both leverage and enhance what we can offer to our patients.”
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Nelson Ambulance Service got its start in 1982 providing patient transportation for nursing homes in the North Haven area, President and CEO Saleem Khan said. The company expanded into ambulance service with the purchase of Danbury Nelson in 1999, and now provides medical transport from bases in North Haven, Milford, Stratford and Stamford.
Joining Yale New Haven Health will allow for further expansion, Khan said. “Many people have a business but can never take it to the next level. We were able to exceed our expectations.”
All of Nelson’s ambulances will soon sport Yale New Haven Health’s logo and branding. Also acquired by the health system is a fleet of vans for those with disabilities and a transportation service for veterans.
Yale New Haven Health was the last major health system in the state to acquire its own ambulance company, O’Connor said.
“We’ve had great partnerships with other companies, but it is different when you can integrate it into your planning and your operations,” O’Connor said. “You clearly can incentivize things that are going to have the highest value for us.”
Prices for ambulance services are not expected to change under Yale New Haven Health’s ownership, O’Connor said.
The system may buy additional ambulance companies in other parts of the state in the future, O’Connor said.
“I definitely see expanding,” O’Connor said. “If there are other opportunities ... we will always explore if it aligns with where we are going.”
Hartford HealthCare purchased American Ambulance in Norwich in 2023 and Hunter’s Ambulance Service of Meriden in 2021, according to the Department of Public Health.
Trinity Health of New England and Nuvance Health, now part of Northwell Health, also own their own ambulance services.
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