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Green Township seeks Rural Metro contract

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Bubba
Sunday, October 31, 2010: 5:35 pm
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Yea! Sounds like a win-win for Green!
I knew I would like it here!

Hugh Jorgan
Sunday, October 31, 2010: 9:28 pm
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My grandma always told me "If it sounds too good to be true...it probably is". If you pay an EMT $11/hr and a paramedic $15/hr that is $624 per day or $227,760 per year JUST in salaries not including payroll taxes, workmen's comp, employee benefits,etc. Then there's the cost of the ambulance, fuel, maintenance and medical equipment and supplies. What's Green have?? 300 runs a year?? If they actually transported on every run and they collected on 100% it would barely cover the salaries.
When R/M got the City of Martinsville contract, the city had to pay them $40,000 annually with 4 times the runload so how can they afford to go out to Green and "sit"?
The truth is their trucks are being booted out of Perry Twp who recently merged with IFD....so they need someplace for their trucks to go.
Another thing is they want to have their foot in the door when Morgan County goes countywide EMS. I guarantee they won't be doing it for free then.

ForthecitizensofWT
Monday, November 1, 2010: 1:23 pm
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Hugh couldnt agree more! Green Twp prepare to be well porked! Your going to have R/M always out to Johnson County or other places and when you need them they are not going to be available just like the Martinsville trucks! Ya we have all heard well when one truck is out of service we will send another down to you. BS they lie! Also get ready for some hefty bills! EMA to transport may cost you 600-700 bucks compared to rural metros 1500-2500. get ready to take it Green Twp because they are gonna stick it to you. R/M doesnt do anything for free!

Wilbur
Monday, November 1, 2010: 3:02 pm
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ForthecitizensofWT
No one does anything for free. If you don't like Rural Metro that's ok, I can appreciate different opinions. But don't compare apples to outhouses. My understanding is (correct me if I'm wrong) EMA has no paramedics, RM does. EMA is a basic life care service and RM is a advanced life service. (Martinsville's RM services are) stabilizing a patient and actually starting advanced care while en-route to a medical facility is a big difference, probably the reason for the difference in price. Time is of the utmost and ANY treatment is vital, but time with paramedics treating the patient going down the road increases survival tenfold. EMA are good dedicated people and I appreciate them, but times change and emergency health care has too. If EMA had paramedics on every run; common sense says their prices would go up too. The old adage;� you get what you pay for� couldn�t be truer.

Moortuckian
Monday, November 1, 2010: 9:19 pm
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Wilbur -
What you are missing is the history of RM. RM will not let that truck just sit and do no runs, they will use it, they will use to do private transfers out of Indianapolis. Green Twp will be waiting a long time for an ambulance because the RM ambulance will be doing transfers. Then in the long run, EMA will be shut down, then what will Gregg Twp do? They will call Brown, then Brown will suffer, then they will call Madison (if it still exist) then Madison will have to call Decatur Twp, then Decatur, Perry, etc. etc. its like ripples in a pond, it just keeps going and going. And that is just the north side of the twp.

Not to mention the bills people will be getting from RM. People do not think they can afford $100.00 a year or so on taxes, wait until they get thier first RM bill...$2000+ on average. I know several people who work at RM, and it has been a practice for them for along time to have the paramedics always treat the patient so that RM can bill the paramedic rate, I am not sure if that is going to happen, but RM will send people to collections, unlike the cty fire departments that usually just write off the insurance balance or what the patient cannot pay.

Good luck to you Green Twp. citizens.

ForthecitizensofWT
Tuesday, November 2, 2010: 12:36 am
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Moortuckian well said and nice homework done!!

Wilbur how about we keep EMA and put some of them through medic class like they have asked. The Council and commissioners dont wanna give up any of the money they have stashed for medics like they should. EMA could have a BLS truck staffed 24/7 with a medic chase truck for ALS runs. You would think the county would want to keep the EMS under them and not sell it out to a private ambulance that will charge a arm and leg like 2000 dollars on a regular basis. Rural Metro is always doing nursing home runs to the hospital and back. Granted I understand some of them need a medic but 95% are check ups! Then you have them running to Indy and back all the time. Its a shame our Commisioners and Council wont get off some money and try and expand our County Ambulance and keep it Local!

momof4
Tuesday, November 2, 2010: 8:11 am
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the fire departments writing off the balance that people can not afford is why they have to keep asking for emergency loans! Which makes my property taxes go up. I am tired of paying for people that can not pay their own way. I would rather have lower taxes and pay my ambulance bill (when and if I ever need one). The local departments should take people to collections just like RM does. If you use the ambulance then you pay for it. Like people have said in the past give up Star Bucks and pay your ambulance BILL!!!

herefornow
Tuesday, November 2, 2010: 1:43 pm
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Momof4, some people just can't pay. Rural Metro sends their money back to Arizona and they are very aggressive in collections. Just drive up SR37 and see how many people work at the local billing office. They are a business and will charge you substantially more than a comparable fire department because they are making a profit. You don't pay squat in property taxes in Morgan County compared to anywhere else in the Metro Indianapolis area. As a result, you seem to like rolling the dice to see if an ambulance even shows up if you need to call 911. Those emergency loans you whine about are the only way the legislature allows townships to increase their Fire/EMS tax levies because of a tax cap from the 1970's. The loans aren't living beyond one's means as many "Concerned Citizens" say; they are simply the way the legislature allows township fire departments to get the money they need to operate without the legislators saying the unpopular "if you need the money, you can raise taxes."

momof4
Tuesday, November 2, 2010: 2:26 pm
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the local fire departments should still bill people and not write the amount off. there are people that can afford to pay their bill but they choose not to knowing that the fire departments will just write it off and not send them to collections. so then the departments have to apply for emergency loans to cover what they write off. which cause the people that really can not pay their ambulance bill to pay more taxes. Is that fair.

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