EVERETT — The Everett City Council is expected to approve a new contract Wednesday for privately operated ambulances.
The vendor, Everett-based Northwest Ambulance, will pay the city $158,000 a year under the proposed five-year contract. The company’s revenue will come from billing patients and insurance companies for ambulance rides.
Its crews will take people to hospitals after certain 911 calls for medical emergencies, in cases when city firefighters and paramedics have responded and determined the situation is not life-threatening.
Those cases account for about 6,600 ambulance transports in the city every year, said Tim Key, the fire department’s chief of emergency medical services.
The average ambulance ride in Snohomish County runs about $872, according to data provided by the city.
Everett’s contract with Northwest Ambulance will replace the current system of the city relying on a rotation of four different ambulance companies, in addition to city-owned transport rigs.
“This is a much more consistent arrangement and we have a lot more control over what our contractor will charge our citizens,” Key said.
The council’s vote on the contract is scheduled for Wednesday’s meeting. The changes to the fire department’s ambulance coverage are happening at the same time as an announcement that another private ambulance company, American Medical Response, is laying off workers in Everett.
American Medical Response absorbed a smaller ambulance company, Rural/Metro, in October. The company is shedding its Everett location and expects to lay off 80 full-time employees and 25 part-timers by the end of summer, spokesman Tom Milton said.
American Medical Response primarily works for hospitals, with 911 backup service for fire departments being “a small portion of our business,” he said.
“The Everett contract was a small factor, but the main reason for the layoffs was due to our integration of Rural/Metro with AMR,” he said.
Three companies, including American Medical Response, expressed interest in the Everett city contract but only Northwest Ambulance submitted a bid, Key said.
Northwest Ambulance was started in 2007, primarily serving hospitals between the Snohomish-King county line and the Canadian border, general manager Jeremy Yoder said. The company recently moved headquarters from Marysville to downtown Everett. When the contract starts, the company expects to have 80 employees. It has 12 ambulances, eight of which will be stationed in Everett.
The company strives to provide service that is “courteous, professional and always on time,” Yoder said.
“We feel honored and privileged to have been selected,” he said.
The city also is still mulling last year’s recommendations made for the fire department by a consultant, whose study included a suggestion to close two of Everett’s six working fire stations.
No decisions on the study’s results are expected soon, Fire Marshal Eric Hicks said.
“It’s definitely still on our minds,” he said.
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
