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By Pat Hatfield
posted Feb 9, 2011 - 9:51:42am
EVAC’s contract with Volusia County got a two-year extension Feb. 3, giving the Volusia County Council time to study how it wants to handle emergency-medical transport in the future.
Since the 1980s, EVAC, a private foundation, has been providing ambulance service under contract with the county. The current contract had already been extended since last fall, and was to expire at the end of February.
EVAC hasn’t been able to break even on ambulance service, and the county has provided subsidies to keep EVAC operating, Deputy County Manager Mary Anne Connors told the County Council Feb. 3. She said Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements do not cover the cost of the services EVAC provides.
In October, the county approved a projected $1.5 million subsidy to fill the gap between Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements and what EVAC says is the cost of services provided to patients who are dependent on those programs. The subsidy was part of EVAC’s $17.4 million budget.
At Thursday’s meeting, County Manager James Dinneen outlined options for emergency medical transport:
• It can be bid out to a private company.
• It can remain the “hybrid” it is today.
• The cities can provide some services.
• The county can provide all services.
Currently, EVAC has an exclusive contract with the county; fire departments aren’t allowed to transport victims. Over the years, Deltona and Daytona Beach have asked for permission to provide emergency transport, but more recently have backed off that request, Dinneen said. Daytona Beach has postponed a decision for another six months.
Also, a bill proposed in the Florida Legislature could limit the ability of municipalities to provide emergency transportation.
County Council Member Joyce Cusack said the council is moving in the direction it needs to go.
“It should not take two years,” she said.
Cusack said the EVAC matter can’t be separated from the question of whether to consolidate fire services countywide.
The county must talk with the cities, and determine what they want, Cusack said.
Council Member Carl Persis recommended asking the residents who pay for emergency services what they want, rather than asking elected officials.
County Chair Frank Bruno suggested setting up a summit with elected leaders of the cities, then later perhaps putting a nonbinding referendum on a ballot to get public opinion.
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I too am a firefighter. I get my info about evac salaries from employees FROM evac. A guy I know made 70K last year in regular pay and OT. He's been with evac for 2 years, working as an EMT. He's NOT a medic or a hazmat tech or an FTO. Just an EMT with all the opportunities for OT he wants, and he made $13 an hour to start. More than I make after 6 years.
As for equipment, Volusia County gave evac the money they needed to buy some road units 2 years ago, among endless other giveaways over the years. In John's comment, I think he's talking about a couple of cities in the county that DO have transport units that BY COUNTY LAW are NOT ALLOWED to transport. Of course, they have recently backed off with the request for transport.
I guess having members on the council, that also happen to be members of evac's e-board kinda helps, huh?
I know that I and MANY coworkers have waited for an evac unit for more than 30 minutes on numerous occasions for ALS patients. It shouldn't happen.
Now Dave? How long have you worked for evac and the fire service?
Dispatch is run by the County and they are the ones who are making the changes in turn which is actually helping out EVAC. So if you want to get angery get mad at the County not EVAC. The new shift schedule is to cut back on spending. Going back to all 12 hr shifts instead of breaking it up into different hr shifts is suppose to save money.
To John: Not all the Cities have the equipment or the man power to provide transport services. You obviously don't know the cost of buying an ambulance, stocking with the equipment needed or the cost of staffing it. Hope you like getting your taxes raised or the cities implementing new fire services fees so that they can offer these new services. Guess you missed the article in the New Journal a little while back comparing other EMS agencies that operate just like EVAC does. They get an ton more subsidies from their Counties they operate in. EVAC was the only EMS agency with the lowest budget and lowest subsidy.
There are going to be Firefighters from agencies in Volusia County who might respond to this article or even my comment. You people have no idea what you are talking. I work full time for a Fire Department that transports and Part Time for EVAC. EVAC as a whole is a much better EMS agency than a Fire/EMS agency. You FF are on trucks that don't have to go to the hospital unless EVAC needs a rider. You won't be able to just go back to the Fire Station and fill out your silly little reports and go back to bed. You will have to go to the hospital, sit on the wall until you get a bed, write what EMS report you have to complete, get back to the Fire Station and do whatever you have to do to complete your report. You could be on a call for in total for an hour or two or longer. Are you prepared to be up for 24hrs without sleep. I welcome your comments.
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