An Explanation of Our Position on the EMS Transport Fee

Please allow this to clarify our corporate position on the EMS Transport Fee. Twice last fiscal year, the career staffing on our ambulance was recommended to be cut on nights and weekends as part of midyear cost savings plans for the Montgomery County government. We spent tens of thousands fighting the recommendations and the Montgomery County Council ultimately voted to maintain staffing levels.

We now, once again, face the destaffing recommendation. The EMS Transport Fee will allow the resources you deserve to be retained at our station.

We are charged with protecting you and the resources available to you. It is unacceptable and would endanger lives if our ambulance is destaffed at any time. We would be poor fiduiciaries if we did not explore all avenues to guarantee you an ambulance from our station.

There have been many miscommunications about how the EMS Transport Fee would work. There would be no out-of-pocket copay for county residents and the uninsured would have costs waived. The fact that you pay taxes in Montgomery County is effectively a "copayment prepay." Your insurance company will be billed directly. We will work diligently to ensure that no one is discouraged or hesitant to call for help.

Other volunteer departments do not share this vision. We respect their right to have a different position than ours. We find it ironic that, by protecting the rights and service that you need, we find ourselves facing possible sanctions. We remain confident in our position. Our responsibility is to the citizens of our response area. In fact, our ambulance is the only 24/7/365 Montgomery County career staffed ambulance in the greater Bethesda area. If we did not use best efforts to guarantee your staffing we would we poor stewards.

The career staffing at our station is also important because our growing volunteer program would be threatened without it. Our goal has always been to supplement the career staffing at our station. We routinely fill one of the two minimum staffing positions on our ambulance at night and on weekends but cannot fill both on a regular basis. Our position, therefore, supports our volunteers.

We believe the citizens of our area would rather have an EMS Transport Fee without a copay and receive care from our ambulance than wait for one from significantly farther away.