A contract for a 12-hour-a-day ambulance service operating out of Halawa has been cut for budgetary reasons, but city Emergency Services Director Mark Rigg said he expects the void to be filled by next month.
The 12-hour-a-day ambulance, dubbed "Life 220," had been provided by private contractor American Medical Response Hawaii under a contract with the city since last summer. The closure of the Hawaii Medical Centers in Ewa and Liliha caused the city’s ambulances to have to travel farther to other hospitals, and the contracted vehicle helped fill in where there were gaps in service.
An analysis done by an EMS employee showed the Halawa ambulance answered 818 calls from July 1 to Dec. 31.
The city was paying AMR $1,500 a day for Life 220, or about $45,000 a month. It is the only one of the city’s 21 ambulances to be under contract.
"We just basically couldn’t afford them," Rigg said, saying that his department’s fringe benefits for employees skyrocketed in the past year, creating much uncertainty in his operating budget.
AMR also dispatches an ambulance on a per-call basis whenever the city Emergency Medical Services Division’s rigs are busy and in nonemergency situations, Rigg said.
Rigg said the good news is that his department has now determined there is enough funding to provide some kind of restoration in service beginning in May.
His agency will be bolstered by the addition of 11 new certified paramedics and 15 emergency medical technicians next month, which could allow for a new ambulance to be put in place, he said. That rig could be set up in West Oahu, downtown, or shift between both, he said.
Another option would be to restart the AMR service, Rigg said.
The city is reimbursed by the state Health Department for emergency services.
Linda Rosen, the Health Department’s chief of emergency medical services and injury prevention, said the Halawa ambulance was not one of the 19 that EMS is obligatedto provide. However, it has been helpful with the closure of the HMC hospitals, and she is hopeful the city can find the money to continue the service, Rosen said.
Shawn Nakamoto, communications director for Hawaii Pacific Health and Pali Momi Medical Center, said hospital administrators do not believe the elimination of the ambulance is having an impact on its Pearlridge emergency room. "It’s very busy in general," Nakamoto said.
In response to the HMC-West closure, EMS also established a new ambulance in lower Ewa Beach with $1 million provided by the Legislature.
A bill moving through this year’s session would continue the funding another year. It is anticipated to be approved.
