Council approves Shippensburg Area EMS as primary ALS provider

Dec. 04--SHIPPENSBURG -- Shippensburg Area Emergency Medical Services will serve as the primary Advance Life Support provider for Shippensburg Borough, beginning in January.

Shippensburg Borough Council voted 3-1 Tuesday night to accept the proposal by the local EMS. Council members Steve Brenize, Kerri Burrows and Angela Facchinei voted in favor of the change; Andrea Lage voted no after saying she wanted more time to review the information, and Kathy Coy abstained.

The vote followed a presentation by West Shore EMS, the borough's current ALS provider.

Plans to develop a local ALS unit began because services are sometimes unavailable in the Shippensburg area.

Heather Franzoni, Shippensburg Area EMS public relations officer, said West Shore has closed three ALS units since 2010 and now has just one paramedic to cover the area of Fannett Township in Franklin County to Cook Township in Cumberland County. If West Shore is on another call, Shippensburg Area EMS seeks mutual ALS aid from another unit.

She said previously that West Shore was unavailable 27 percent of the time it was needed in 2012, and the need for ALS services is increasing.

Paul Christophel, executive director of West Shore EMS, acknowledged that call volume is increasing, and he outlined several options at Tuesday's meeting.

Collaboration between West Shore and Shippensburg Area EMS units would be the best solution, he said, because both companies would remain in service while saving Shippensburg Area EMS the cost of four full-time positions and ALS liability insurance.

Other options included a merger of West Shore and Shippensburg -- which he said Shippensburg is not considering -- and having West Shore as a Basic Life Support provider.

Removing West Shore as the ALS provider, he said, would result in a loss of jobs and regional service. He said there is also uncertainty about a new and "untested" program.

"Shippensburg is a quality BLS but untested as an ALS," he said.

Shippensburg Area EMS operations director Shawn Hartsock also addressed the council Tuesday. He said he has concerns about collaboration because of the number of transport units that would be available in the community, and said Shippensburg Area EMS is not interested in merging because it wants to keep its standing in the community as a volunteer organization.

He said a local ALS unit with "a working agreement with West Shore" -- with Shippensburg being the primary provider and West Shore being secondary -- would be best for everyone.

In an earlier presentation to the borough council, Hartsock said a local ALS unit would improve medical response time, provide more efficient care and cut costs.

He told the council that when someone calls 911, Shippensburg Area EMS dispatches an ambulance with an EMT. If ALS is needed, a paramedic is sent from West Shore, and patients are billed separately for the two services.

An ALS unit in Shippensburg would provide faster care to area residents and allow Shippensburg Area EMS to bill for both ambulance and paramedic services, Hartsock said. Combined billing, he said, would save borough residents about $131,000 per year.

Email Debbie Chestnut at [email protected]

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