I have been a dedicated and frustrated Paramedic for many years. My frustration stems from the widespread practice of Nursing and Extended Care facilities within our fine state utilizing "privately owned" ambulances to respond to "true 911" emergency calls at their facilities.

Many times, these ambulances are dispatched on emergency runs to these facilities from distant locations, frequently passing local volunteer and full-time city, township and county EMS stations which are closer and would have a quicker response time.

The majority of temporary and full-time residents of these facilities are current and past taxpayers that support(ed) local governmental Fire/EMS stations whose coverage areas include the facility they live in. So, in an emergency they are receiving care from a private ambulance company that typically charges more for their services than a local public EMS system would charge. Many public EMS systems in Ohio still provide free fire and EMS services or request a nominal fee, or residents participate in a subscription based fire/EMS system.

Most of us have been impacted by one of our friends or family members being "placed" in a nursing home. Usually this placement is near the person’s original residence that is served by a local fire/EMS station. Then, after becoming a resident of the facility, should they suffer a medical emergency the local EMS system is often by-passed and the facility calls a private ambulance.

This practice needs to stop! Facilities should be forced to call EMS services, which are closer in order to provide the quickest emergent care possible to our senior citizens. These facilities should not be allowed to sign exclusive contracts with private ambulance services unless the private service is closer than a local public system and has a crew on station to handle an emergency run.

Over the years, I have witnessed occasions where an individual in a rest home had to wait, sometimes with an undesirable complication (in other words the patient DIED) as a result of delayed response from a privately owned ambulance that had to travel a long distance and passed one or more local fire/EMS stations (which have established mutual aid agreements) on it's journey to the scene of the emergency.

This is not a localized problem. It exists within all of Ohio and probably most other states and possessions. I was raised by parents who taught me to respect and honor my elders, just as I am raising my son with the same values. When a private ambulance service receives a request to respond to a known emergency, they should put profits aside and have the facility call the closest agency to respond. To do otherwise is irresponsible, unethical and a shame.

In my 20 plus years as a paramedic I have had the unique opportunity to positively impact the lives of many individuals. At the same time, my life has been impacted by the dark side of pre-hospital emergency care. I struggle everyday with haunting memories of death and anguish. At least I find some solace in exposing this unjust treatment that our seniors unknowingly receive.