Quincy to seek new ambulance service

QUINCY - The Washington Department of Health will help Quincy

Valley Medical Center find a new ambulance service after hospital

board members announced the service's end.

In January, Anthony Gonzales, president of the hospital's board of

commissioners, read "Resolution 2011-01" which stated the ambulance

service would be dissolved after sustaining financial losses for

the past few years.

QUINCY - The Washington Department of Health will help Quincy Valley Medical Center find a new ambulance service after hospital board members announced the service's end.

In January, Anthony Gonzales, president of the hospital's board of commissioners, read "Resolution 2011-01" which stated the ambulance service would be dissolved after sustaining financial losses for the past few years.

Hospital administrators said losses for 2010 reached $453,000.

Washington Department of Health Office (DOH) of Community Health Systems Emergency Medical Services Section Supervisor Mike Lopez says there are several steps to successfully replacing the ambulance service, beginning with a formal letter from Quincy Valley Medical Center notifying the DOH that the hospital is voluntarily dissolving the service.

"As of right now, I have no formal verification of their relinquishing their service," Lopez said in an interview with the Columbia Basin Herald. "Am I aware of the situation? Yes, and are we starting to prepare ourselves to deal with that. As soon as we receive that letter, our office will generate a letter to every licensed and trauma-verified agency in every region throughout the state."

Lopez says agencies interested in filling the open position at Quincy Valley Medical Center will have 30 days to submit their application.

"Once that 30 days is over, we have a very in-depth process for reviewing those applications," says Lopez. "We look at their equipment and supplies and their people on clinical training and more. Then we as a group, score the applications and find suitable applicants."

The "initial licensor application" included questions concerning the number of responses the agency made in the last year and status of personnel to "provide minimum standards for ambulance and aid services, vehicles, and emergency medical equipment," according to the Department of Health.

"Once an agency has an EMS agency license, they can treat and transport anything other than severe trauma," says Lopez. "It really is a collaborative effort where they get a say in who they want in their area. That's why it's so important for us to work with us to work with the local folks to make sure we don't do something that isn't consistent with what they do for their local community."

"More often it takes anywhere from 60 to 90 days to unfold and come to completion," Lopez says "And even though Quincy Valley Medical Center hasn't formally advised us, we are already developing a plan so the community isn't without."

Ambulance services provided by the hospital are set to end July 11, but may cease sooner if it's taken over by another company.