Pa. EMS Company Changes Name, Aims for Regionalization

Yoe Fire Company Ambulance Service is changing its name -- the first step of what might be a long process of regionalization for area EMS.

"We're trying to position ourselves as the change agent," said Ted Hake, chief of the company, which employs 17 full-time and 20 part-time employees. "We're hoping the new name is inviting to other EMS agencies."

The new moniker -- York Regional Emergency Medical Services Inc. -- more accurately reflects Yoe's service to the community.

Those services include responding to 4,000 911 calls last year in 28 different municipalities populated by 30,000 residents.

The name, Hake added, is also more inviting to smaller ambulance companies looking to merge as a result of WellSpan's call to regionalize the county's fragmented EMS services into a larger body of providers strategically stationed based on community need.

In August, the healthcare provider said it would discontinue its EMS program.

Currently, WellSpan's paramedics are stationed in Stewartstown, Red Lion and Dover.

They arrive at scenes on "chase trucks," vehicles separate from the basic life support ambulances transporting emergency medical technicians.

A paramedic provides advanced life support -- a higher level of care that can include medication -- that an EMT cannot.

WellSpan officials have emphasized the need for the Mobile Intensive Care Unit to become the standard for York County.

In a MICU, paramedics and EMTs ride on the same vehicle, arriving at scenes together.

Yoe Ambulance, founded in 1972, is already a MICU with five licensed vehicles, including four ambulances.

Hake said his team is currently in talks with several smaller EMS agencies about merging.

It's an idea, he said, some groups are hesitant to consider.

"A lot of the barriers to regionalizing EMS are loss of identity," Hake said. "We're taking a proactive approach here. We're giving up our current identity."

Along with applying to the Pennsylvania Department of State to register the new name, the agency is also re-tooling its bylaws to require shared governance -- giving equal representation on the board of directors to ambulance companies that merge.

The re-branding should take between six to eight months, Hake said.

"Yeah, there's obstacles," he added. "There's a loss of control there for EMS agencies that are joining. You do give up some identity. While your history never goes away, there's always a concern you'll lose your sense of community ... We just want the community to be larger."

Copyright 2013 - York Daily Record, Pa.