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StumbleHenderson City Council approves new ambulance service
Several members of private company are employees of the Henderson Fire Department
Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2010 | 2:05 a.m.
The Henderson City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to grant RBR Management, LLC, a private ambulance company, a business license to operate in the city.
Dr. Richard Henderson, one of the founding members of the company and the medical director for the Henderson Fire Department, said he hopes RBR Management is open for business by May.
The council expressed hopes that the company will help alleviate long wait times for non-emergency patients who need to be transported between hospitals or from home.
Teressa Conley, chief operations officer for St. Rose Dominican Hospitals, Sienna, spoke on behalf of RBR Management, saying that the private ambulance company would fill a need within the community.
“We want to provide the highest quality of services for the patient that come to St. Rose. We need services that are timely and are safe,” she said. “We feel this service is necessary.”
Conley said it is not unusual for noncritical patients requiring transfer to wait between 80 and 90 minutes. During high-volume times of the year, such as winter flu season, waits can be four or more hours, she said.
Patients can be transferred between hospitals because of physician preferences or because they require a specific type of facility for treatment, Conley said.
Leslie Godfrey, a representative for American Medical Response, a national ambulance company, spoke against RBR Management.
She said because the fledgling business did not yet own any ambulances, and because “non-emergency” was not defined, the business license should not be granted.
“You don’t know what types of patients you’re putting into these vehicles,” Godfrey said.
Godfrey said that it would take two years before the company’s ambulances could certified by the Commission on the Accreditation of Ambulance Services.
But Henderson said not having the accreditation will not stop the company from meeting the standards established by the Health Department.
Robert Richardson and Brian Rogers, the other members of RBR Management, have been working in the ambulance business since 1989, when both were employees at Mercy Ambulance Service.
Both men are paramedics and former managers of ambulance companies. Today, they work for the Henderson Fire Department.
Councilman Steven D. Kirk said he thought that American Medical Response seemed less concerned with public safety and more concerned about keeping business competitors at bay.
Twenty-four months is the accepted length of time for an ambulance company to operate before becoming CAAS-certified, he said.
“I don’t think it’s the competitor’s place to comment on the qualifications here,” he said. “Just say, ‘We don’t want the competition.’”
Councilwoman Kathleen Boutin agreed, saying the added competition among ambulance providers should provide more free-market incentives to provide better services.
“It will absolutely improve the quality of transportation and medical services to all of our residents,” she said.
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WOW!
At face value at least, that whole deal just stinks of conflict of interest.
Watch, in two years time, this will be the 'preferred' service for Henderson.
Yes, major conflict of interest going on here. The company will end up getting a lucrative contract with the city, it's probably already been guaranteed. Anyone in a director position should not be embedded in a private company who has dealing with the same agency.
Wow,
This is a great benefit for the citizens of Henderson. Don't cry conflict, you should be praising local businesses. Unless you are on here because you work for AMR and mad about loosing an area. That's what it is. I liked it better when Mercy was the ambulance service and no one else was. It was locally owned and operated. That is the way is should be. AMR go away!!!
Mercy Ambulance was great - but like with every mom and pop business that is doing well, someone has to come in and money talks! They sold out. Then Medicwest started out the same way-local people that had great ties to the Las Vegas Valley and their intent was to only do non-emergency work, then a few code 3 responses, then an area of LV they would control and then BAM - AMR comes in and offers big money for the business and it is gone by the way of big business.
For these 3 guys to do this and still work for both Catholic Health Care and Henderson Fire as upper management creates way to much conflict of interest. They have access to numbers no one else has. They have total access to the elected officials that no one else has, and they are policy makers at their respective agencies. That is where the conflict lies. They should do the right thing and resign and go run their buisness. So what happens when there is a problem with their business and they working their mon - thurs job with Henderson Fire? Something has to give. Focusing on a business 3 days a week will not work.
Just for the record, 2 of the 3 were with Mercy Ambulance back in the day. They both held high management positions with them. Don't be supprised that once Community Ambulance is up and running and doing well, AMR or Rural Metro will come knocking on the door and again offer a large sum of money for their business and BAM - AMR will be in charge of it.
The last thing that is concerning is when a community leader (fire chief) states in the RJ that taking care of patients in the quick cares is not the fire departments mission, that is a person who does not put the community first. These quickcares and doctor offices are all in the City of Henderson taking care of the tax payers of Henderson. I would disagree greatly. They are apart of the fire departments mission. The day they are not, you might as well as get out of the entire ambulance business and do only first response with the engines, cut positions and free up those salaries for another department in the city to use and get rid of the increase liability!
Because we all have short term memories, Ms. Boutin was fully backed by the Henderson Fire Department. So that means she will support her "friends" any way she can!!
Whooaaaaa , the two owners work for the fire dept?. Wow , thats pretty bold to just let that happen. Big conflict of interest here , thats like the Mayor being awarded the contract for providing all the Mormon green jello salad at all the City functions. I wonder who the liason was for the two guys? hmmmmm was it someone who used to be the City Attorney? . This is better than anything ol Jim Gibson did, George Knapp should get the scoop on this one.
I wonder if all the players involved go to the same church?(mormon)wouldn't that be a coincidence? Yup ,if that's true it just proves that the momo mafia is still running the town. When are people gonna wake up in Hooterville and give the City Council members the boot. I'm mostly disappointed in Steve Kirk for letting this happen, the rest of em are for sale anytime. C'mon Steve ,Really?
Has everyone missed the point here... they merely received a business license. They didn't receive a contract with the city. As far as I'm concerned, we need people with private industry experience in government. You can't have it both ways guys. I'm happy to see entrepreneuers starting businesses. And I would much rather that city ambulances be available to respond to emergencies, not transporting nursing home patients from one facility to the other. If the city were to award a contract for those services, they would have to do it via competitive bid, or rotation. All that happened here was the approval of a business license. Simmer down people.
Tme67 ,you're right,its only a license. I have complete faith in the system that they will recieve no favortism in getting calls. And Obama is the best President ever,and Ried is an angel and a saint,and the Easter bunny is coming and the checks in the mail,and diet dr.pepper taste just like dr. pepper.Oh , and don't forget Santa Claus and the great pumpkin.