Dear editor,
We have been following the ambulance issue for Allen County. We understand the commissioners are tasked with the hospital and with funding an ambulance service to provide for Allen countians needs.
We also understand that many things must be handled in meetings we are not privy to, because that is the way things must work many times. We only have the information published in the Iola Register and we understand that it cannot provide all that is being considered.
That being said, it seems from the Register article of April 29, the contract proposals from the City of Iola would be most cost effective and the money would be kept in the county, whereas the AMR funds would go to a huge corporation headquartered in Colorado.
While we would pay AMR less, we would get no revenues back from them, and the contract does not include the 500-plus transfers our critical care access hospital has each year. We understand there may be things we are not aware of that might not make the issue seem so easy to see the advantage of staying local with the service.
It is our hope the commissioners are doing their due diligence in checking out the reputation of AMR. It was reported the commissioners were impressed with the presentation the company made. It would behoove them to check with other communities around the state and nation that use them and what those communities have experienced and whether they would make the same choice again.
Anyone can make a great presentation, but we need to go beyond that to understand how their follow through is in places for which they have provided service. We know that the City of Iola has provided fine service for us for years and if they are to be replaced we need to know that we will not lose that level of coverage. Perhaps a mediator should be brought in, as before, to work between the county and city.
Walt and Mary Ann Regehr
Iola, Kan.
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