Ephrata agrees to ambulance negotiations

EPHRATA — Ephrata and Soap Lake became the latest members of a 13 agency coalition to agree to enter negotiations with American Medical Response (AMR).

The Ephrata and Soap Lake city councils authorized their staff to enter into negotiations with the company recommended to replace Grant County Fire District 5’s ambulance service. They join fire district 5 and Columbia Basin Hospital, which also approved negotiating with the company.

The fire district announced in October it planned to end service.

“American Medical has begun the process of meeting with all of the 13 agencies that would be served in the response area,” Ephrata City Administrator Wes Crago said. “Essentially what AMR is offering through their (proposal) is an identical level of service … in the city limits of Ephrata without any subsidy.”

The company will receive all of its money from people using the ambulance, saving the city about $29,000, he said. The city used to pay the fire district to provide service.

The individual members of the coalition are reviewing AMR’s proposal to see if they want to negotiate with the company, Crago said in an interview after the meeting. Items such as the number of ambulances serving the area and requirements for some level of auditing are part of the planned negotiations.

“AMR has been very proactive with meeting with each of the agencies involved to determine the needs of that area,” he said. “The bottom line is there will definitely be a unit stationed in Ephrata and there will definitely be a unit stationed in Moses Lake.”

Service will not change for Ephrata, Crago said, adding the council’s decision was limited to entering into negotiations with the company and the council needs to approve any final contract.

“If people have concerns they can talk to their councilmembers and those concerns may be able to be worked into the contract,” he said. “If everything proceeds smoothly we should have a contract by mid-May.”

Fire district 5’s and the hospital’s decisions help since they, along with Ephrata, are two of the largest agencies involved with ambulance transportation, Crago said.

“I think it’s fabulous we’ve been able to find a provider that will more than serve our needs,” Councilmember Heidi Schultheis said. “I hope that it will actually pan out.”