CAMARILLO : Seniors to Discuss Paramedic Service

Residents of Leisure Village in Camarillo, concerned about paramedic response time in emergencies, have scheduled a meeting Friday with Supervisor Maggie Erickson Kildee to discuss the possibility of establishing paramedic service at a local fire station.

Also expected to attend the question-and-answer forum are county health officials and representatives from Pruner Ambulance Co., which contracts with the county to provide emergency service to the area.

Rube Davis, a Leisure Village resident who helped organize the forum, said many residents of the private community for senior citizens would like to see a countywide firefighter paramedic program established. At the very least, Davis said, residents would like to have the service available at a fire station three blocks from the village.

The senior citizens community has about 3,700 residents.

Davis said residents are concerned that current county guidelines allow Pruner up to 10 minutes to respond to emergencies in the village. Pruner now has an ambulance station about three miles away in downtown Camarillo.

Residents have also complained about Pruner’s rates, Davis said. The rates, regulated by the county, are the same as those charged by ambulance companies in Oxnard and Ojai, said Barbara Brodfuehrer, a county health official who monitors emergency services.

Erickson Kildee has said that, although she supports a firefighter paramedic program, the county has no money to support it.

Representatives of the Ventura County Firefighters Assn., which has been pushing hard for a firefighter paramedic program, said they will also be at the meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m. in the main auditorium of the village’s recreation department at 12000 Leisure Village Drive West.