Ambulance rules not popular for some rural residents

[The Straight Story]

Ambulance rules not popular for some rural residents
By JAMES BURGER, Californian staff writer
e-mail: [email protected] | Tuesday, Dec 5 2006 2:04 PM

Last Updated: Tuesday, Dec 5 2006 2:04 PM
.... (Snip - Bakersfield, California - Kern County)

That contract gives ambulance companies mini-monopolies over certain sections of the county.

But the new standards also set exceptions designed to give ambulance companies a break for the difficulty of getting ambulances to remote areas.

Those exceptions could allow ambulance companies to arrive late in rural communities for months, even years, before they risked losing their contract with the county, county staff reported.

That didn’t sit well with residents from one remote mountain town — Pine Mountain Club near Frazier Park.

“We live in an outlying area. I’m tired of hearing, ‘You chose to live in a rural area. You should have thought of that,’” said resident Frank Sanchez. “We pay taxes like everybody else does. We deserve the same services people have in the metro area.”

http://www.bakersfield.com/619/story/87753.html

[Richard D]

1. A lot of older people live in Pine Mountain Club

So this is a particularly important thing for them.

[Kiouni]

2. I use to work for an Ambulance service

In omaha it was a private ambulance company and I firmly belief that all Emergency Medical Service should be independent and not state ran. Under state contracts you get poor quality and shabby treatment from my personal experiences. And cities do run monopolies on your emergency health care because it can be profitable if they slip on ambulance maintenance and poor coverage because of cut backs and redundant union contracts.