Ambulance service is a tricky issue to tackle

In recent weeks, the city’s ambulance service has come under scrutiny.
Namely, there is a concern that the service is unreliable. There have been several reported incidents where a call was made for an ambulance, but it never arrived, or it came only after a long wait.
Why?
Sometimes multiple calls for an ambulance are made within the same time period, but at certain times of the day there is only one ambulance on duty here.
During so-called peak hours, there is a second ambulance provided.
A number of residents say they want the ambulance service returned to the city’s fire department, which had handled ambulance runs for years.
That service was contracted out to a private in a cost-cutting move.
There is a major problem, though, with ambulance service going back to the fire department: the city would likely have to wait a couple of years before a vehicle could be delivered because of supply chain delays and shortages.
Not only that, it would cost a fortune to purchase an ambulance. Even if the department had one on hand, there still would only be one ambulance on duty.
A reader recently pointed out another option: contracting the service with the Detroit Fire Department.
This option is not far-fetched: the previous city manager, Kathy Angerer, was looking into this arrangement right before she resigned to take a different job.
Hamtramck has gone through a series of private contractors, and they all left because they simply could not sustain the service financially.
As it stands now, the city pays $140,000 a year for the service.
It’s a complicated issue, and one that the next city manager needs to make a priority.
Posted Dec. 2, 2022