Senior Citizens Angry at Paramedic Service

An angry group of Leisure Village residents demanded better paramedic service for their community Friday night at a packed meeting with Ventura County officials.

But County Supervisor Maggie Erickson Kildee told them that the county cannot afford to help them.

Residents complained of slow response times and high rates charged by Pruner Ambulance Co., a private firm that provides emergency service for most of Ventura County.

Pruner charges $400 to $800 for a trip from the private senior-citizen community in Camarillo to Pleasant Valley Hospital, about five miles, residents claimed.

Lou Okun said response times averaged 10 minutes or longer. He said residents would like to see paramedics placed in a fire station directly across the street from the village, to reduce response time to about three minutes.

“We have heard horror stories here in the village about victims being driven to the hospital in a private vehicle because they couldn’t afford the exorbitant ambulance rates or could not wait 12 minutes for an ambulance,” Okun said at the special forum held at Leisure Village’s community center.

“I’m giving you facts. This is not fantasy land,” he said.

More than 200 people attended the forum, including Ventura County Supervisors Erickson Kildee and Maria VanderKolk. Linda White, an aide to Vicky Howard, also attended.

Erickson Kildee said she will form a special committee, which will include members of her staff and residents of Leisure Village, to study ways to improve emergency services to the senior citizen community with a population of about 3,700.

“It’s very easy in something like this to polarize and takes sides, but there are no good guys and bad guys here,” she said. “We want to have paramedics but is it important to have firefighters as paramedics, or private paramedics? I’m not sure what the answer is.”

The Ventura County Fireman’s Assn., which also says ambulance service provided by Pruner is inadequate, has been pushing county officials to start a paramedic program within the County Fire Department.

Ken Maffei, president of the union, said Pruner is slow to respond to emergency calls and tends to hire young, inexperienced workers who are emergency medical technicians, not certified paramedics. Technicians can administer basic life support, such as supplying oxygen or performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation, while paramedics can dispense medication and work directly with doctors.

Erickson Kildee said that she supports a countywide firefighter paramedic program, but that the county does not have the money to support it this year. She said the only way to pay for paramedics would be to set up a special assessment district or have cities subsidize the program.

Maffei said 13 firefighters are already trained as paramedics, but that they are not certified to perform advanced lifesaving procedures. Officials said that their intent is not to drive Pruner out of business but to enhance its service.

Firefighters are often the first to respond to an emergency call, he said.

Pruner officials said that company employees are adequately trained. The company has 33 paramedics and 40 medical technicians at seven ambulance stations countywide.

Steve Murphy, spokesman for Pruner, said the company averages about 20 calls a month for Leisure Village, and the response time averages 8.3 minutes, which meets county and state guidelines.

Pruner officials said the firefighters union is trying to create new job opportunities for its members, who can expect to be paid 10% to 15% more as paramedics.

The Board of Supervisors regulates the rates that Pruner charges, which are similar to those charged by the ambulance companies that serve Oxnard and Ojai, said Barbara Brodfuehrer of the County Health Department.

The Moorpark City Council voted in September to institute a one-year firefighter paramedic program. The City Council voted in September to set aside $125,000 for the pilot program and is waiting for approval from the Board of Supervisors.