PORT JERVIS—The primary ambulance service for Matamoras, Deerpark, and Port Jervis didn’t want to take this road, but it is asking for help.
For years now, the non-profit Port Jervis Volunteer Ambulance Corp., Inc. has been losing money due to a confluence of factors. Rising operating costs, fewer volunteers, laws that make it hard to get fully reimbursed from health insurers, and most importantly, a client base that is predominantly on Medicare and Medicaid, have all put the ambulance in the red.
Business Manager George Ewings said there was talk of closing down the 57-year old non-profit, but for many reasons, they decided not to.
“We all got into doing EMS for the same reason, it was to help people,” Ewings said.
Municipal Funding
Over the past nine months, Ewings and operations manager Michael Dymon, have been working with the three municipalities on funding for half of the unpaid calls they take in those places.
“We know it’s a big chunk of change, that’s why we only asked for half,” Ewings said.
Last year, the ambulance answered over 2,400 calls, half of which were in Port Jervis, a quarter in Deerpark and about 8 percent in Matamoras. The funding they are asking for is proportional to the calls they take in each area.
In the recently-approved 2016 budget for the Town of Deerpark there is $42,000 for the Ambulance Corp., which is the entire amount it asked for. Deerpark Supervisor Gary Spears said that while it was in the budget, the amount that will be dispensed is not beyond negotiation. “That'll be further discussions,” he said.
