Move to City-Run Ambulances OKd

After a heated and emotional debate, the City Council has voted to convert the city’s ambulance service into a public-operated entity.

City officials say the switch is expected to reduce average paramedic response time from eight minutes now to five minutes or less.

“This comes down to a debate of saving money versus saving lives,” Councilman Thomas Edwards said. “I opt for saving lives.”

Mayor John W. Hedges was the lone dissenter on the 6-1 vote, saying the existing emergency transportation system is good enough.

The adopted plan from the Fire and Marine Department will phase out the privately owned ambulance service the city uses and replace it with a city-run system. The change is also expected to save the city $55,000 a year.

Firefighters, trained as emergency medical technicians, work with paramedics to provide life support.

Currently, the city is served by MedTrans Ambulance Inc., which bills a patient’s insurance provider.

MedTrans spokesman Brian Ranger wondered why the council acted now. “Why not wait until the end of our contract?”

Ranger had said the Santa-Ana based ambulance company will have to fire 12 employees if it loses the city contract, which expires in January 1997.

Chief Timothy D. Riley responded that the new system is scheduled to begin this July to coincide with the new fiscal year.