Crestwood approves budget for 2016-17

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Wilkes-Barre Farmers Market opens for 2016 season

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; While Mayor Tony George is willing to let Trans-Med Ambulance learn the ropes in its new role as primary backup to the city&#8217;s own ambulance services, the firefighters&#8217; union won&#8217;t cut the private company any slack.</p><p>Dave Roberts, a union spokesman, said Trans-Med has been in the business long enough to know minutes matter in an emergency and it&#8217;s responded to calls in Wilkes-Barre for years, most recently as a mutual aid participant with other outside ambulances.</p><p>&#8220;They were covering the city under the old mutual aid agreement,&#8221; Roberts said Thursday. &#8220;There should be no learning curve.&#8221;</p><p>Members of Wilkes-Barre Fire Fighters Union Local 104 of the International Association of Fire Fighters drive the two ambulances and assist paramedics in providing emergency medical services in the city. Firefighters are also trained as either paramedics or emergency medical technicians, said Roberts, a captain and EMT with 16 years of service.</p><p>Trans-Med&#8217;s Medic 10 unit took 8 minutes to respond to a stabbing at the Sherman Hills apartment complex on June 16. On top of that, Roberts said, the ambulance driver asked firefighters, who arrived on scene first, for directions to Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center.</p><p>Both issues and others were reported on the Facebook page of Wilkes-Barre Fire Fighters Union Local 104 and offered as evidence against the mayor&#8217;s decision in April to <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/news/528376/wilkes-barre-mayor-sticking-with-change-to-backup-ambulance-plan-dismisses-councils-opposition" target="_blank">move the for-profit Trans-Med to the top of the heap </a>of backup ambulance providers for the city.</p><p>&#8220;It was fixing a system that wasn&#8217;t broke,&#8221; Roberts said. &#8220;We were unaware of any complaints whatsoever under the old system.&#8221;</p><p>Trans-Med, whose administrative offices are based in Luzerne, did not respond to a request for comment.</p><p>The mayor said he, along with City Administrator Ted Wampole, Fire Chief Jay Delaney and Deputy Chief Alan Klapat, met with officials from Trans-Med at City Hall earlier this week to discuss concerns about response times and the stationing of back-up ambulances.</p><p>&#8220;Right now they&#8217;re rectifying all the problems,&#8221; George said Wednesday.</p><p>He asked for weekly reports from Trans-Med and set a six-month trial period to evaluate his decision on changing the agreement made by his predecessor Tom Leighton in October 2011 to ensure the city was covered when its two ambulances were busy with calls. Kingston, Hanover Township, Plains Township and Trans-Med each had geographic areas to cover under the mutual aid agreement. Trans-Med had been the sole back-up prior to the creation of the pact.</p><p>George opted to have two Trans-Med ambulances stationed in the city, essentially doubling the number of available units including Wilkes-Barre&#8217;s two, he said. He&#8217;s also acknowledged contemplating scrapping the city ambulance service as a cost-cutting measure.</p><p>The 8-minute response to Sherman Hills was the average time for back-ups prior to the switch, George said.</p><p>He described Trans-Med&#8217;s response time as &#8220;better now on the average&#8221; but did not provide data in support of his statement. He declined to discuss response times for the city ambulances.</p><p>Trans-Med will continue to station one ambulance each at Penn Plaza and at Schiel&#8217;s market on George Avenue. When one of them responds to a call, the other will move to the bottom of Coal Street next to the Turkey Hill to be more centrally located and return to its original post when the other ambulance goes back in service, he explained.</p><p>The mayor also said Trans-Med will operate one ambulance during off-peak hours from 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. and have one on standby at the former Spellman Ambulance property on North Main Street.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m satisfied with what&#8217;s happening,&#8221; George said.</p><p>The off-peak schedule caught Roberts by surprise.</p><p>&#8220;They continue to kind of change the rules as they go,&#8221; he said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">A Trans-Med ambulance, acting as a back-up responder in Wilkes-Barre, took 8 minutes to get to a stabbing at Sherman Hills apartments earlier this month. The Wilkes-Barre fire fighters union called it unsatisfactory, but Mayor Tony George, who put Trans-Med as the primary back-up in the city, said he&#8217;s satisfied with the private company&#8217;s performance. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_stabbing2.jpg</photo0><caption0>A Trans-Med ambulance, acting as a back-up responder in Wilkes-Barre, took 8 minutes to get to a stabbing at Sherman Hills apartments earlier this month. The Wilkes-Barre fire fighters union called it unsatisfactory, but Mayor Tony George, who put Trans-Med as the primary back-up in the city, said he&#8217;s satisfied with the private company&#8217;s performance. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Union speaks out against change in plan for back-up ambulances</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jerry Lynott</p><p>jlynott@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Wilkes-Barre firefighters want to return to old back-up ambulance plan