January 14, 2003, Rick VanGessel, Executive Director

Recent newspaper articles regarding the EMS situation in the City of Fenton have not been entirely accurate. DVA Ambulance has been operating in the City of Fenton and the response rate to many if not most of the ambulance requests have improved dramatically. Currently, from the time that our EMS unit receives the call from a DVA dispatcher to the time it arrives on scene is averaging 4.2 minutes.

DVA Ambulance entered into the City of Fenton because of the desperate need for EMS there and our service has not cost the city residents any tax money. Despite this, city officials refuse to acknowledge this fact. In recent articles various city officials have been quoted as saying that private EMS will not work in the city and that the only answer is to start their own service at a significant cost to their residents. DVA is working in Fenton despite a lack of help from city officials. The city has stated that they would not object to private EMS in the city if they parked in their fire hall parking lot. No one has approached us about staying there. Fenton city officials have stated that they will be more than happy to assist us yet their actions show that they truly have no intention of giving private EMS a chance. DVA has jumped through the city’s hoops and met the requirements they have set forth and we are still there. It is not right for private industry, especially small business, to be forced out by the government.

In the city’s defense DVA does acknowledge that in the past private EMS has not worked in the City of Fenton. I believe that this time the situation is dramatically different. For the first time a public, not-for-profit agency has offered its services to the city, made the financial investment, and vowed to do everything it could to provide top-quality ALS service to the residents of the city, yet the city continues to provide misinformation to their citizens and extols the virtue of a municipal system as the only answer. A municipal system can work in the City of Fenton; they had an expert tell them that in the results of a study performed for the city. But at what cost? A significant tax increase. What would the expert say if DVA was added to the equation? History has shown that private industry can provide a service at a much cheaper cost than the government can.

The city has been quoted in the paper that they do not believe that we are going to be sticking around. I do not understand where they have gotten that opinion. The residents of Fenton, the people, have shown us lots of support. Preliminary data shows that we can remain operating in the city and we are not looking to leave any time soon. Obviously if the city opens its own ALS service then DVA will not be able to successfully operate in Fenton. It is not about money, but we have to be able to pay the bills. DVA has not asked for help from the city because we do not believe that we need it at this point. The only concern that we have is that our ALS vehicle must be parked outside where it is vulnerable to many types of threats. We have already had our keys taken during the night. It would be nice to find a base that had a garage where the crew could maintain the vehicle as well as it remaining safe. The problem is that this type of housing is very expensive in the commercial sector and so far that has been inhibitive. I think that the city needs to listen to its residents. It is true that sometimes you have to bite the bullet and pay out, but I don’t think that now is the time. The city leaders have not given DVA an honest chance and continue to move forward on plans to establish their own municipal ambulance service. This only reinforces the feeling that the city does not want us there to help. If this is the case, the city just needs to be upfront with us and tell us they do not want our help so we do not make any further financial investments in the city.