Once Again... Ambulance Information

On the Journal Star website, Poison Pen quotes "revenues vs. expenses" for the Ambulance Service, from the volunteer era under the administration of her esteemed Uncle Earl Carter; and also since the full-time staffed and paid Ambulance Service came into being.

Once again, certain facts have to be written about... facts which Poison Pen just cannot grasp. Or, more likely, simply does not WANT to grasp.

First, you cannot compare the "revenues/expenses" of a volunteer service vs. a paid service. The volunteer service was not working. It was not working under Uncle Earl. But, Uncle Earl did nothing about it. He didn't even request for the Board of Trustees to go with AMT, even though that option was pushed by former Trustee Wayne Baum. Particularly during the daytime working hours, there were calls put out that our volunteers did not show up for! Not because they did not care, but because they were not available. So, some calls were going a half hour; an hour; two hours before any service showed up. It might be Dunlap Fire & Rescue; it might be West Peoria Fire & Rescue; it might be AMT (if they had a vehicle available in the area); it might be us, if we finally were able to get volunteers to arrive. This was happening on probably 30-50% of the calls! The paperwork is available for anyone who wants to see it, going well into Uncle Earl's two terms. Just give us a call, and then come on by.

So, we had two options... go with a paid service, or go with AMT. Period. End of discussion. Once again, comparing a cost analysis for a volunteer service that we could not proceed with versus a full-time paid, staffed, Advanced Life Service outfit is being done for one reason, and one reason only... POLITICS.

Scroll through the postings I've placed, and you'll find why we chose to have our own Ambulance Service over AMT's. But, I will write that the main reason was SERVICE. We can get to our residents within 5-10 minutes, TOPS. AMT might be in the area, they might not. It could be 5-10 minutes, but it's much more likely to be a half hour or more. If your loved one has just had a heart attack, let me know which service you'd rather have... 5-10 minutes or a half hour or longer.