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ambulance trip. Patients are billed for the rest. “Our expenses are $2.5 million annually, and we receive only $1.8 to $1.9 million from insurance reimbursements,” says Holman. “That leaves a huge gap that we have to cover, partially through patient billing.”
Davey knows that an ambulance bill
can be an unwelcome surprise. “If you
buy a gallon of gas, you know what that costs, but you don’t know what an IV bag costs,” he says. “Our trucks are in a state
of readiness 24/7, and providing that care costs a lot of money. When you call 911, we don’t ask if you have insurance or the ability to pay. We don’t refuse anyone—but wBe do have to bill.”
ack at Roberts and County Line roads, the woman involved in the car accident is now on a stretcher in the back of the ambulance. Although she’s sitting upright and appears unhurt, she’s taken the
right advice and is heading to the hospital to get checked.
Bryn Mawr and Riddle are Level 3 community hospitals; Lankenau and Paoli
offer Level 2 trauma centers; and Jefferson University Hospital and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania are Level 1 trauma centers. “If you’re having a stroke, go to Bryn Mawr,” says Davey. “It has
a comprehensive stroke center where a certain procedure can be done.”
Maternity also goes to Bryn Mawr, while crush injuries go to Lankenau. For spinal injuries, it’s Jefferson, and pediatric patients head to Bryn Mawr, based on its affiliation with Nemours Children’s Health. “The level of Bryn Mawr’s pediatric skills are fantastic,” Davey says. “But if it’s pediatric trauma—or parents insist—they go to CHOP.”
As it turns out, Bryn Mawr is the closest and most appropriate hospital for the woman in the car accident—and it also happens to be her personal choice. Most of us, after all, would prefer to make choices based on what’s familiar. The woman’s tears have stopped, but her hands and
feet continue to shake. She tells Narberth Ambulance’s Olivia DeLorenzo about her generalized anxiety and panic disorders. Almost as an afterthought, she adds that her breast cancer is now in remission.
Then a uniformed police officer appears, tucks himself inside the ambulance and
puts the woman’s Louis Vuitton handbag on her lap. “We found several unmarked prescription bottles in your bag,” he says. “Why do you have so much medication in bottles with no labels?”
According to the woman, they were prescribed for her anxiety disorder.
“But why are you carrying around so many pills?” the officer asks.
Later, after blood tests at Bryn Mawr Hospital, the woman was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance and driving under the influence of a controlled substance. The other driver, whose behavior raised suspicions, was cited only for the accident.
After 35 years of service, Narberth Ambulance’s Flanagan has learned not to make rash judgments, as first impressions are sometimes wrong. “We don’t make an opinion about patients,” he says. “Our job is to preserve life.”
As for the anonymity of their work, it’s a big part of what makes first responders the heroic stuff of movies and TV shows. “A lot of what they depict is realistic—except we don’t generally have earthquakes and skyscrapers engulfed in flames,” says Davey with a chuckle. MLT
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