Page 82 - MLT December

Safety First continued from page 78 of its EMS team and because of the
reputation of Narberth Ambulance,” she says. “At Bryn Mawr, we’re treating mostly inebriated students. It’s with Narberth that I get to go on real calls.”
Luczka also volunteers with Narberth Ambulance, where she serves as chair of its membership committee. She notes that 48 percent of Narberth’s 73 active volunteer members are female. The numbers are similar at Good Fellowship Ambulance Club, which covers nine Chester County municipalities and the borough of West Chester. Forty percent of its paid EMS staffers are women, and executive director Kimberly Holman is one of only three female ambulance EDs in the state.
Holman was 15 when she joined GFAC as an EMT, eventually earning her nursing degree, then becoming a PHRN. Named executive director in 2016, Holman now oversees 45 paid staffers and more than 100 active volunteers. GFAC has the highest call volume in Chester County, largely thanks to its proximity to West Chester and its recent service deal with Chester County Hospital.
In Delaware County, ambulance companies are owned by the health systems, namely Crozer-Keystone. Divided into north and south divisions, the squads are based at Crozer Medical Center and Delaware County Memorial Hospital. Together, they serve 19 municipalities from EAast Lansdowne to Ridley Park.
mbulance companies’ varying business structures make for interesting, often difficult economics. Good Fellowship and Narberth are nonprofits. But unlike police and fire departments, they don’t get
substantial funding from the townships they serve. In 2017, GFAC received just $23,000 from its service area of nine municipalities and the West Chester borough. In 2018, five of those regions agreed to a funding formula based on call volume and population.
Now, GFAC gets up to $130,000 from
the municipalities and West Chester. The borough’s contributions actually went from nothing to $90,000 a year, says Holman. “No one ever explained to them how much of our services West Chester uses,” she says.
According to Narberth Ambulance executive director Albert Davey, less
than 1 percent of the company’s annual revenue comes from the five townships it serves. Membership fund drives provide roughly 10 percent of the annual budget, with nearly 6,000 residents donating anywhere from $35 to $100 each. An annual bike race raises funds from corporate and private sponsors, bringing in $170,000 in 2018. “We’re incredibly blessed to have so much community support,” says Davey. “But a new ambulance costs $250,000, and we have to buy one every year to rotate our fleet.”
In Chester County, GFAC holds a membership drive that brings in about $100,000 a year. The squad has other sources of revenue, including its own investment account and funds from a trust. The Lasko Family Foundation donated a $190,000 ambulance in 2018. “The only stable revenue streams we have are municipal funding and insurance reimbursements,” Holman says.
Those reimbursements vary, but most insurance plans don’t cover all the fees for an
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