Hazleton Act 47: Fighting financial woes with fire
Consultants evaluated staffing operations and how each city department is structured as part of its plan to improve city finances. The organization listed suggestions at the conclusion of each departmental review that the city could choose to follow to achieve operational efficiencies or possibly generate revenue.
Although consultants said the EMS proposal could provide a revenue stream from billing insurance and residents directly for ambulance services, they and Chief
"This is just to see the feasibility of it," Leshko said of the proposal. "It will explain the costs to do it, costs of personnel, equipment and all the logistic items to see if it's something the city would look at doing in the near future or if it's something with the initial start-up costs might not be possible to do."
If the city were to create the committee, it would consist of "an equal number of managerial and firefighter representatives" who would study the EMS concept, according to PEL's report.
Operations
Although consultants note that 15 of the city's 21 paid firefighters are either paramedics or EMTs, Leshko said paid employees in his department are employed strictly as firefighters.
"They're assigned apparatus and working as firefighters," he explained. "(Having them) also covering ambulance, that part would just not work."
A firefighter-based EMS -- whether it offers advanced life support or basic life support service -- would require a staff of its own, Leshko said.
"We'd need a whole different staff," Leshko said. "If that would come to fruition, that ALS or BLS would be on duty the same time as the fire apparatus is. The ambulance would be one department and the fire would be the other under the whole fire umbrella."
According to PEL, the fire department has three paramedics and about a dozen EMTs on its force.
Leshko, however, said many of those firefighters worked as paramedics before joining the fire department.
"A lot of the guys who are paramedics were medics prior to getting hired with the fire department," he said.
Years ago, firefighters were required by contract to become EMTs within three years of taking a fire fighting job in
"A lot of it was for training purposes and us going on accident calls," he recalled.
When responding to automobile accidents, for example, personnel responds in the capacity of firefighter but some have the ability to "administer care and do medical assists," Leshko said.
The department also responds to calls to assist ambulances, he said.
PEL's observations
The city currently relies on private EMS service providers, but has an "adequate number of emergency medical technicians" to at least consider exploring the possibility of offering its own service, consultants wrote.
"There are many details in this process, including medical command and EMS vehicles, but there is also a revenue component to providing EMS services," the report reads. "The Coordinator cautions the city that any agreement to have the
The number of rescue and emergency medical calls that the department responded to has increased from 176 in 2013 to 317 calls last year, PEL notes. Total responses range from 857 in 2013 to a high of 1,068 in 2017, according to Leshko.
Calls that PEL listed as rescue/emergency medical involve responses to mostly automobile accidents with injuries, which register as "EMS calls," Leshko said.
Mayor
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