Ambulance Service Approved for Byron/Burns Township

By Donna Klein, Staff Writer 9-10-06

  BURNS TWP. – The shock and worry at losing their long-time ambulance service in August was eased for residents in Burns Township Tuesday, Sept. 5, with approval by the Township Board of Trustees of a 90-day contract with the Southwest Shiawassee Emergency Services Alliance (SSESA) from Perry.

  Service, other than mutual aid, will begin as soon as possible – within a few weeks at most – once state licensing and inspections are completed. The contract is expected to be renewed in 90-day increments, as will contracts with the Byron Area Ambulance Board of Directors for lease of the building and ambulance.

  “The Byron Base”, the name likely to be given to the new SSESA satellite operation, will be in the former BAA building on Saginaw Street, downtown Byron. It will be a separate SSESA entity, with its own building, equipment and staff.

  Perry Emergency Services Chief Guy Hubbard is hiring people for that staff now – paramedics, emergency medical technicians and local area medical first responders. MFRs will be on-call backup persons (paid only while on ambulance runs and who must live within two miles of the Byron base.) Interested persons may call Hubbard at (517) 202-2820.

  Most likely, advanced life support service (ALS), which means a paramedic is on duty, will be available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, since that is shown to be the busiest time for ALS service, Hubbard told the township board Tuesday. Basic life support will be in service from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.

  Antrim Township, half of which was previously served by BAA, is now entirely covered by SSESA, which has stations in Perry and Morrice, plus covers part of Bennington Township.

  About half (an estimated 1,000 households) in Argentine Township in Genesee County, immediately south of Burns Township, also needs ambulance service and Hubbard said Aug. 28 that it is “vital to the success of the (Burns Township) operation.” A decision there is pending the required public hearings before Argentine Township officials can vote to pay that township’s share of the cost from its general fund.

  At an Aug. 28 SSESA meeting in Perry, Hubbard said overtime will not be paid to employees; overtime costs apparently played a part in the financial downfall of BAA.

  Burns Township Supervisor David Mitchell said Sept. 5, that at an Antrim Township meeting he attended, Demis and Wenzlick, accountants for BAA, said no fraudulent activity by management has been discovered. But, said Mitchell, “We (Burns Township board members) were misled” about the not-for-profit, privately owned company’s financial situation before the Aug. 7 announcement of closure the following week.

  He said some $25,000 in back withholding taxes were never paid by management staff, plus checks which were approved, written and signed for payment of bills were found “in a drawer” at the base, never mailed because there wasn’t enough money in the bank to cover them, although that was not disclosed at the time to the township, nor apparently to the ambulance board.

  Some BAA employees, who had six days official notice of the closure, have filed, reportedly unsuccessfully, for unemployment benefits and at least one has filed a petition in small claims court, telling The Independent Tuesday that he was trying to set up a meeting with a Shiawassee County prosecutor.

  Meanwhile, BAA financial matters have been turned over to Demis and Wenzlick for further action and an attempt to pay outstanding bills, plus collect money owed to the company by ambulance users and insurance companies.

Ambulance Arrangements Draw Nearer

By Donna Klein, Staff Writer 9-3-06

  BYRON/PERRY – A unanimous decision by the Southwest Shiawassee Emergency Services Alliance (SSESA) Board of Directors Monday, Aug. 28, in Perry, paves the way for SSESA ambulance service operated out of the recently-closed Byron Area Ambulance building, downtown Byron.

  Ninety-day contracts for ambulance coverage of Burns Township, including the village of Byron, and part of Argentine Township, plus lease of the BAA building and equipment from the BAA Board of Directors, were all approved by the SSESA board.

  Since Aug. 13, the day BAA shut down because of financial problems, SSESA is already covering all of Antrim Township, half of which was included in the former BAA area.

  Ambulance service and the proposed SSESA contract will be on the Burns Township Board agenda Tuesday, Sept. 5 (held a day late because of the Labor Day holiday), Township Supervisor David Mitchell confirmed with The Independent Thursday, Aug. 31.

  Both Mitchell and Argentine Township Supervisor Bob Cole are reviewing the proposed contracts, said Perry Emergency Services Chief Guy Hubbard. The BAA Board had already authorized Cheryl Cole, Burns Township representative to the board, to sign the rental agreements.

  However, whereas an annual assessment of $45 per household/business was renewed by voters in Burns Township Aug. 8, Argentine Township does not yet have an assessment in place, although it can pay its share of the service from its general fund if it chooses, reimbursing that fund later if an assessment is voted in by citizens, explained Hubbard.

  He said advanced life support (ALS) coverage 24/7 isn’t possible, but that at least basic life support service (BLS) would be provided and, depending on the call volume, probably ALS (paramedic on duty) 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, with the crew salaried. “We will not be paying overtime.” He expects BLS to be provided from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. using volunteer on-call backup (paid only while on calls).

  ALS availability will depend on Argentine Township with that township “vital to the success of this operation,” said Hubbard, because of low call volume in Burns Township. “If it works for a year, then we could look at long-term contracts.” “If we can’t break even after three months, all bets are off – the $45 assessment may not be enough.”

  SSESA will pay the BAA board $1,200 a month for the building and one ALS-equipped ambulance. BAA also has a basic service ambulance.

  A conservative annual estimate of calls for the entire potential coverage area is 264, said SSESA Chairman John Plowman. “We were told that 65 percent of BAA’s calls were non-transport,” which means little or no money collected. Over 11 months, BAA went on 42 calls to Durand as mutual aid for DVA Inc. which was unavailable.

  “We found everything (at the ambulance base in Byron) in top-notch shape,” he added.

  The portion of Argentine Township needing ambulance service is the portion included in the Byron School District, which Hubbard estimated at 1,000 households, about half of that township, he said.

  Coverage of Perry-Morrice-Antrim Township would not be affected by the additional area, Hubbard emphasized, with completely different equipment, staff and building in Byron.

  SSESA was approached by Burns Township representatives, rather than SSESA soliciting expansion of its service into the area, Plowman emphasized Monday, adding that SSESA is not and has not been soliciting expansion of its service into other parts of Shiawassee County.

  However, he went on to say, “We think we can do this without financial harm to SSESA.” Hubbard explained that SSESA will not have expenses for the Burns/Argentine area that were as high as they were for BAA because a manager and insurance are already in place for the alliance and its original service area, plus overtime will not be paid and BLS service will be on-call payment to crew members.

  If the Burns Township board approves the contract, there could be a delay of two to three weeks, except for the usual mutual aid, while licensing for this part of Shiawassee County is obtained.

  A license would also have to be obtained in Genesee County for Argentine Township coverage, but Hubbard said service could begin in Burns Township once the Shiawassee County license is in hand while an Argentine Township decision is pending, since an assessment there must be voted on by the residents.

  SSESA was incorporated Aug. 1, 2004, and unlike most modern day ambulance companies, its meetings are open to the public. Its board includes representatives from its current coverage area – city of Perry, village of Morrice, Antrim Township and a member-at-large, with the exception of Bennington Township which has no board representative. Adding Burns and Argentine townships’ representatives to the board is possible after about a year of the expanded coverage, Plowman said.

Byron Ambulance Is Closing after 31 Years

By Donna Klein, Staff Writer   8-19-06

  After 31 years of serving Byron, Burns Township and Antrim Township, the Byron Area Ambulance Service is shutting its doors at noon today (Sunday, Aug. 13) because of continuing financial problems.

  The not-for-profit, privately owned company’s board of directors met for nearly five hours Monday, Aug. 7, looking at finances and options, before making the decision. “They’ve done everything they possibly could to make the service viable, but with a low run volume and money owed, they didn’t want to put it further in debt and had to make a business decision” BAA Manager Glen Lacey told The Independent Tuesday morning.

  The few days’ notice was to give the 19 employees, communities and agencies that will have to cover BAA’s service area until other services are contracted “time to gear up,” said Lacey.

  Tuesday’s election ballot in Burns Township asked voters for renewal of the annual $45 per household/business assessment for ambulance service. Those funds were approved and can be used to contract with another service, such as DVA in Durand or the Southwest Shiawassee Emergency Services Alliance (SSESA) in Perry.

  But Burns Township Supervisor David Mitchell explained Thursday to The Independent that the township board must decide before Nov. 1, whether or not to put the assessment on the tax rolls. A problem, he said, is that the township has no facility for another ambulance service, since BAA will have to liquidate its assets, including its building in downtown Byron.

  “We’re looking at options. We must do the best thing we can to serve our residents,” he emphasized.

  Antrim Township, which is already contracted with SSESA for the west half of the township, plans to add the eastern half, until now handled by Byron, to that contract.

  The only ambulance service located in the southeastern part of Shiawassee County is DVA which has not had its contracts with the City of Durand and Vernon Township renewed. Representatives of the city and township have met to discuss options and their attorneys, plus DVA’s attorney, are also meeting.

  Many ambulance companies have experienced financial problems in recent years, including others in the Shiawassee County area. Low run volume can be a major factor, with BAA’s down 70 runs from July 2005. Most of those were into Genesee County, Byron being only a mile from the county line, which dispatchers have since diverted to another company, even though BAA was often the closest service.

  Lacey said the BAA Corporation will be liquidated and its debts reconciled, including a loan taken out by the company a couple of years ago. Lacey will continue to be employed while inventorying the assets and Bookkeeper Jeanene Bird will be employed until open accounts are settled. She said about $75,000 is owed to BAA in collections (with collection agencies), not including current accounts receivable which are active and being paid on.

  Only a year ago, BAA went to Advanced Life Support service, meaning a paramedic was on board the ALS rig, available 24 hours a day, with the second ambulance being a backup unit.

  Byron Ambulance became a working reality on June 25, 1975, taking over from Streeter’s Funeral Home. (Until then, funeral homes provided ambulance service in many Michigan communities.)

  The service started with one vehicle and a small building at 210 S. Saginaw Street, downtown Byron. The base remains at the same address, with an addition containing the office and kitchen constructed in 1993 and a garage for the current fleet of two ambulances (purchased in 1995 and 1998) added later.

  Many changes have occurred in the emergency medical world since the Byron service was started. In the mid-1970s, it is said there were no EMTs (emergency medical technicians) in Shiawassee County and mutual aid, when emergency services from one community go to another to help when needed, wasn’t yet in effect. Patient confidentiality was not the major emphasis that it is today and most ambulance services were staffed by volunteers, with public ownership. Now, the companies are of necessity businesses and employees are for the most part paid at competitive wages.

  Byron/Burns Township residents who have heard the news of the closure have expressed great concern for the availability of ambulance service for themselves and loved ones. One woman, nearly in tears, pulled money from her pocket, saying, “This is all I have with me, but give this to them (BAA management) and tell them the community cares.”

  The day after the closure was announced, the mail brought a thank you letter, thanking the crew for its help when BAA was recently dispatched to Lennon due to DVA’s unavailability.

  The board’s decision was unanimous, with one trustee, Ray Ayotte, representing Burns Township, absent. Other board members are: Duncan Orr, president, representing Byron; Darrell Coffey, for Antrim Township; Cheryl Cole, treasurer, representing Burns Township; Nancy Roberts, secretary, for Antrim Township; and Chuck Sumpter, trustee, Antrim township.