Wayne County commissioners to encourage municipalities to help with EMS funding shortfall

Principals behind PPH (Paupack, Palmyra, Hawley) Ambulance addressed the Wayne County commissioners at the latter's scheduled workshop on March 12. Robert Boogertman, Paupack Township supervisor, and Pete Steffen, supervisor chairperson of Palmyra Township (Wayne County), asked if the county would assist financially to address a budget shortfall in the joint ambulance service serving the three municipalities. Hawley councilor Elaine Herzog was unable to attend.

At their regular commissioners’ meeting two days after, Chairperson Brian Smith stated that they felt it is not the solution for the county to help alleviate the shortfall, but rather the responsibility lies with the municipalities.

At the March 28 commissioners' meeting, Commissioner James Shook stated that they will be scheduling work sessions, not open to the public, with groups of municipal leaders one region of the county at a time this summer to discuss this point.

Shook stressed that the municipalities beyond Paupack, Palmyra and Hawley, where the ambulance from PPH has been answering emergency calls, need to help fund emergency services and contribute to meeting the cost of PPH.

Commissioner Jocelyn Cramer added that the commissioners' role can be to facilitate bringing people together to talk. She said that while there remain "incredible volunteers" serving EMS, there are fewer than before. She added that not all townships have ambulance taxes in place.

Smith, at the March 14 meeting, stated that Boogertman, who has passionately sought to address ambulance coverage and response time in their region through a joint initiative, has had multiple conversations with the commissioners.

"We don't believe the solution for ambulance services is for the county to foot the bill, but certainly there are responsibilities that fall back on township supervisors to have a tax that helps the townships have the ambulance coverage... That is in the county code."

More: Joint ambulance service for Paupack, Palmyra, Hawley reports revenue shortfall

Shook said Paupack Township, Palmyra Township and Hawley Borough "did something really commendable" by pooling resources to have a paid, shared ambulance service. These three adjacent municipalities agreed to help fund PPH, at various rates depending on their number of taxable properties. PPH officially began service on July 1, 2023, contracting with Pennsylvania Ambulance.

"Their frustrations come from the fact that in the first six months of having that extra service, only 30% of it has gone to their [three municipalities]; the other 70% has gone outside their paid area and yet they are flipping the bill," Shook said. He said PPH is about $100,000 behind, and the concern of PPH is whether they will be able to sustain this service.

Shook commented, "And I think as commissioners we will probably end up holding township supervisors' feet to the fire to get on board with what they've done. They [PPH] have set a model of what township supervisors should do for their communities and township supervisors are wholeheartedly responsible for the residents in their area.”

Smith stated that the county has helped by enhancing the 911 emergency dispatch system and adjusting protocols. For example, he said previously if someone with gout called 911 with excruciating pain but not a life-threatening emergency, the protocol required automatic dispatch of an Advanced Life Support (ALS) unit. If the call came from northern Wayne, Smith said that it would take the ALS unit out of service for well over two hours.

The protocol was changed to try to use a Basic Life Support (BLS) ambulance rather than the ALS needed by someone with a more serious condition, he said.

The county's advanced 911 capabilities, he said, have cut down on ambulance response time. "Our 911 center and our new executive director, Betsy Turner, [are] second to none." Their funding mechanism to pay for 911, he added, has not kept up with replacing all the updated equipment to be next-generation compliant, upgrades that are required to maintain that funding.

The county's role and responsibility, he emphasized, is to ensure their 911 service has the speed and accuracy to get people the help they need.

The ambulance situation in Wayne County, Smith said, is not as bad as Pike County had been, where in recent years the county stepped up to help fund improvement of ambulance services in municipalities where ability to pay for hiring ambulance crews was inhibiting response time. These Pike County municipalities also must contribute, such as by setting an ambulance tax.

"I do think there is more and more a need for paid services," Smith said. "I think when people call for an ambulance, they expect there will be people there on that ambulance to come and save their lives or the lives of their loved ones."

Cramer added that the county has reactivated an ambulance association, bringing together EMS. "I do agree with my fellow commissioners that at the end of the day the solution is a uniform approach from the municipalities to provide services and work together... I think that if there was a small tax across the board the problem, I  don't want to say would be solved, but the response time and equipment issues would be significantly upgraded," she said.

Regarding meeting with municipal officials this summer, Smith said that they will discuss other things as well, including the county's newly revised Comprehensive Plan and the county's outdoor recreation study and how it relates to the municipalities. They also will be discussing the problem for local people trying to pay the prohibitive cost of child care services, rent and real estate in Wayne County.

Peter Becker has worked at the Tri-County Independent or its predecessor publications since 1994. Reach him at pbecker@tricountyindependent.com or 570-253-3055 ext. 1588.

This article originally appeared on Tri-County Independent: Paupack, Palmyra, Hawley seek EMS funding help from Wayne County