The Queen Creek Town Council has voted to stop contracting with a private ambulance company and start providing its own ambulance service through its Fire and Medical Department by July 2023.
The decision was made at the Wednesday, April 5, council meeting after Fire Chief Vance Gray and Deputy Fire Chief Lee Barnes reported to council about what they saw as numerous problems that have been occurring with the town’s current private ambulance provider American Medical Response.
According to a staff report, the Queen Creek Fire and Medical Department recommended that Queen Creek expand its existing emergency transportation system and move from the private provider, American Medical Response, to a municipal service.
The report added the recommendation was being made “due to a decline in the level of service provided by the private provider. The decline in the level of service is evidenced by a reduced number of AMR ambulances located in the region (Queen Creek, Gilbert and Mesa) and staffing shortages. This has led to AMR not being able to cover Queen Creek and, in some cases, not being able to respond to emergency incidents.”
Queen Creek contracted with AMR in 2016 along with Gilbert. Gilbert dropped AMR last year.
The staff report continued that ever since, “Gilbert has fully municipalized their service and Mesa has begun their transition, Queen Creek had seen a decline in AMR’s service, such as ambulances being out of service for staffing, no ambulances to cover Queen Creek, and Queen Creek requiring the assistance of Gilbert or Mesa when AMR was not able to respond.”
Barnes told council there had been numerous problems with AMR and he highlighted two in particular.
“In August of last year, we had a personnel issue in which an AMR paramedic didn't want to run a call,” Barnes said. “He placed his unit out of service, abandoned his shift and walked out of the station. The closest unit available to respond came from Sossaman and Main and had a 38-minute response time to that particular call.”
Barnes added that on the evening of March 17, AMR had no ambulances in service in the town, so there was no coverage for one hour, during which time there was a motor vehicle accident and a cardiac arrest call.
“These were both serviced by ambulances from Mesa and Gilbert,” Barnes said.
AMR officials countered that meetings to discuss any issues between the company and the department were supposed to take place every quarter. Barnes admitted those meetings fell by the wayside as the problems became so critical they had to be dealt with immediately and could not wait for the next quarterly meeting.
AMR officials said they were not made aware of the issues.
Vice Mayor Jeff Brown said he was skeptical AMR did not know about the issues even if the complaints were made to lower-level officials.
Initially, the motion to have the Queen Creek buy its own ambulances and hire personnel to staff them was placed under the consent agenda, in which items are passed in one motion without discussion. Council Member Leah Martineau asked that the motion be tabled until the April 5 meeting to discuss the issue, since significant taxpayer money would be used to fund the venture.
“First and foremost, I just feel that we are making a financial decision without even talking policy or even discussing some of the issues,” she said. “I just find that backwards. I find that not the proper way to be doing things.”
Earlier in the meeting, John Valentine, a regional director at AMR, also aired concerns about the motion originally being placed on the consent agenda without any discussion. He said he found that action to be “a little underhanded and a little deceitful.”
Council Member Julia Wheatley called out Valentine on his comments.
“A consent agenda is not something that is just slid through. I want to make that very clear,” she said. “And the comment of it being underhanded and deceitful — that's one person's opinion. My opinion is that it's absolutely inappropriate. There's a lot on this consent agenda, and I will tell you as a council member, as fellow council members, we do our research, we do our due diligence. So, I want to make it very clear that nothing on this consent agenda is just slid through.”
Council Member Emilena Turley, who has proven one of the top big-government opponents on the council, said it should not be argued that neither she nor her peers are anti-public safety.
“But I know we all care that we do it fiscally responsibly. I would like to see the council, or our staff and the owners get together and start figuring this out,” she said. “I would like to see an immediate shift in what's going on. Maybe some people need to be fired, maybe some policies need to be changed, but I see no reason why we shouldn't try with the current agreement that we have to see if it will work. It would be the most advantageous thing to the community if it works. If it doesn't work that's fine.”
In order for Queen Creek Fire and Medical to fully expand the emergency transportation system, the town will have to buy five ambulances, with one placed at each of the town's five fire stations. Four ambulances will be front line, fully staffed vehicles used on a day-to-day basis. The four ambulances will be staffed with civilian personnel who will respond to emergency calls and provide patient transportation to hospitals.
The cost of the ambulances would total $1.9 million. The program also will require hiring 12 paramedics, 12 emergency care technicians, one compliance officer and one billing technician at a cost of $2.5 million. Other operating expenses, such as supplies and fuel, are expected to cost $200,000
Patient insurance will cover most of the cost, which the staff report stated, “will help offset its cost but will not pay for itself.” The service is expected to have a yearly operating loss of $700,000 because of unpaid patient bills.
Before the vote, in which Martineau and Turley voted no, Mayor Gail Barney made his thoughts on the matter clear, citing the town ending its relationship with the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office and creating its own police force.
“I do think it's time to make a decision. I have not seen anything or heard anything that has changed my mind,” he said. “It's time to move on like it was time to have a police department. It's now time to have our own ambulance department.”
Queen Creek will continue to partner with AMR until the town's ambulance service is up and running.
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