Newly Picked San Diego EMS Provider Promises More Ambulances, Paramedics

Speaker 1: 00:00 A new ambulance provider will be serving the city of San Diego after a unanimous decision by the city council. This week, newly pit Falk will take the place of AMR after a competitive bidding process, but the decision did not come without skepticism. KPBS reporter, Matt Hoffman has been covering this story and joins us with details. Matt, welcome. Hey Jade. So why did the San Diego city council decide to change ambulance service providers? Speaker 2: 00:27 Well, you know, uh, each ambulance provider, they sign a contract to operate in the city. Um, once those contracts ends, there's a competitive bidding process. Um, and the, the competitive bidding process was opened up. There were in this most recent round, uh, three companies that applied for that American medical response. The current, uh, service provider for the city of San Diego was one of the people who submitted a response to that. And so was false, but the city chose Falk to win that RFP. Um, and the recommendation, the city council voted unanimously, uh, to choose Falk as the new EMS provider in the city of San Diego. Speaker 1: 00:57 Now, you said you spoke to San Diego fire rescue, chief Colin Stonewell, who said this decision has been a long time coming. Why is that? Speaker 2: 01:05 Well, JD, we know that there's been two requests for proposals here for a new ambulance provider. And we know that during the first one, there were some questions raised about fault. Now they did get the city's recommendation. They did win that first RFP proposal, but then the city opened up, opened it up again, and Faulk applied again. So did American medical response. And again, the city chose fault. You know, it's gone through this long process, well over, over two years, but focus as the one that the city ended up going Speaker 1: 01:30 And council member Vivian Moreno referred to the new service providers, higher level of service, as opposed to other providers, what exactly does that higher level of service entail? Speaker 2: 01:41 Well, like sort of what chief Stoll was saying, basically, you know, that when he was looking at the proposals that the Falk one stood out, because they offer a higher level of service. And basically what that means is having more paramedics on the streets at one time. Uh, he says that equates to about an additional thousand hours of staffing a day, and that correlates to about 14 additional ambulances. And I think in this contract basically about 66 ambulances a day will be on the road. So if you think about 14 additional ambulances, that's 14 more that that would not have been there. So, um, you know, the chiefs and the city kind of saying, we're getting more bang for our buck, uh, going for fault because they're adding more paramedics and adding more ambulances to the road. Speaker 1: 02:16 And some council members were skeptical of how this new provider would be able to pay for the increased EMS service. What can you tell us about that? Speaker 2: 02:25 There was some questions about their financials, you know, Falco sort of dominates the European market when it comes to emergency medical services. Um, and they're starting to come into the U S market here. So there were some questions about, about Capitol, um, about some of their projections in terms of how they're going to pay for this increased level of service. But fought basically says, look, we have money in the bank and we're here. We're committed to San Diego. And they say that they want to get their foot in the door and the U S market and this big contract is a way for them to do it. Speaker 1: 02:50 And does this change in provider indicate that there will be an increase in the hiring of paramedics in San Diego? Definitely. Speaker 2: 02:57 Um, I talked to the fire chief about this. He said that Falk is going to have a tough task ahead of them to beef up the workforce because keep in mind American medical response, they have the contract for six more months. And then in that six months, the city says that they're already working with fall to ramp up. So we talked about the ramp up process. AMR is still here for another six months, running nine 11 calls. Falk is going to start their ramp up process over that next six months. So that's bringing on new ambulances, the fire chief talk about a new radio system, new gurneys, uh, other new lifesaving measures. So Fox is going to have to ramp up, but it's going to be a delicate balance because they have to make sure while they're ramping up, that they're not losing any level of service Speaker 1: 03:33 And another city council member Marnie Von Wilpert said that she's concerned that there aren't the proper legal tools in place to really enforce a lot of the promise changes that Fox says they're going to make. Why is that? Speaker 2: 03:47 She was kind of, sort of hinting at, I think that there is a penalty structure. There is like some sort of fine structure in place. Uh, but it seems like that if they were not following the contract, they could be paying those penalties, uh, while still avoiding keeping the staffing levels there. She was kind of hinting that this contract was put together by the former mayor of San Diego, Kevin Faulkner administration. She would just like to see more legal binding there, but the city attorney's office told her that we'd have to reopen up the whole RFP process again, but it's worth noting though, that chief Collins stole, uh, says that the penalties will increase if violations happen. And he thinks that the contract does give them to ability to enforce and mandate staffing levels on those ambulances. Speaker 1: 04:22 There were a lot of people who spoke out about this decision at Tuesday city council meeting. What were their concerns Speaker 2: 04:29 Similar to the council members in terms of, you know, this upgraded level of service, how are they going to pay for it? How are they going to maintain it? Um, there was a lot of public comment, I think nearly 200 callers. Um, you know, a lot of people saying, Hey, AMR has been here for a long time. They've been getting the job done. Why do we need to switch? Uh, can we just stick with them also worth noting to Jade? The fire chief says under this contract, all of the current AMR employees will be offered jobs with Falk. He basically, uh, conduct to, uh, as a uniform change Speaker 1: 04:54 For weeks in an organization called neighborhoods for equitable ambulance response has sponsored a social media campaign, criticizing Falk. They say fall can slower response times and communities of color, they question their business ethics and even working conditions. What does folk say about this? Speaker 2: 05:12 Yeah, so folk had representatives at Tuesday evening city council meeting, um, and in pointing to this contract and how they're going to, um, maintain their level of service. You know, they did make some verbal agreements, um, in terms of, uh, some of the unions and not pressuring some of those unions. Um, they also did say, um, basically their, their CEO, Matt Gallagher said, you know, that the contract requires us to maintain staffing levels. Um, and he says that they will stand by the CBAs, the collective bargaining agreements to treat employees in certain ways. Um, and he basically says that they're standing by their reputation in the European Mark. Speaker 1: 05:42 I've been speaking with KPBS reporter, Matt Hoffman, Matt, thank you for joining us. Thanks, Jay. In the interest of disclosure, Falk is a KPBS underwriter.