Ambulance service agency to meet with CARE after announced service cutbacks

FAIRFIELD — The Jefferson County Ambulance Service Agency held a meeting Tuesday, and plans to hold another meeting Thursday to address what its members believe is a contract breach with CARE Ambulance.

CARE has been providing ambulance service to Jefferson County since taking over the job from Midwest Ambulance on Oct. 1, 2020. In the past few weeks, CARE representatives have indicated it will need more money than what was agreed to in the contract, at the same time that it will be cutting back services due to a shortage of staff.

The announcements have alarmed the ambulance service agency members, which consists of one representative from the Jefferson County Health Center (Julie Greeson), Fairfield City Council (Elizabeth Estey), and Jefferson County Board of Supervisors (Dee Sandquist).

CARE Ambulance had previously requested an additional $10,000 per month, which would be divided evenly among the three agencies that comprise the ambulance service agency. Fairfield City Administrator Aaron Kooiker said during Tuesday’s meeting that the Fairfield City Council had agreed to that request, increasing its contribution to the ambulance from $35,000 a year to $75,000.

However, Fairfield City Attorney John Morrissey noted that the most recent communication from CARE, an email from Denice Pearson-Libby, indicated that the company actually needed $90,000 more per month, not $10,000. Greeson said such an increase was untenable.

JCHC CEO Bryan Hunger said he also learned from CARE that it had scaled back its services to the point where it was only going to keep one ambulance in the county full-time, and to have a second ambulance on call between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. He said he has notified his emergency room staff of the diminished ambulance services.

“We have patients in our ER who need to be transferred,” Hunger said. “My main concern is what’s going to happen in the next month.”

Members of the ambulance service agency asked Hunger what the health center would do if it needed to transport someone but no ambulance was available. He said the health center would ask neighboring hospitals for help, but it would be up their goodwill as to whether they sent an ambulance or not.

Jefferson County Attorney Chauncey Moulding said that the ambulance service CARE is now providing is not what the company promised in its contract, and thus the company is in breach of contract. He said it didn’t make sense for CARE to be requesting more money and a change in services partway through the contract. He said it defeats the purpose of the bid process if CARE reneges on its contract.

The ambulance service agency called Denice Pearson-Libby and her husband Bob Libby, the CEO and owner of the company, and put them on speaker phone during Tuesday’s meeting. Morrissey told them that the extra $80,000 per month the company just requested “blew our socks off.” During the call, Denice said that the shortfall in staffing and the financial issues are related, and that the staffing concerns will remain until the financials are sorted out.

Moulding asked the couple that, if staffing was causing the breach in the contract, when is CARE planning to get out of the breach.

Bob responded by saying, “We want to be up front with you. There is no ambulance service in the country that isn’t struggling to staff.”

The ambulance service agency members told Denice and Bob they needed to meet as soon as possible to discuss the staffing shortfall and the company’s financial picture, and agreed on 1 p.m. Thursday at the Jefferson County Health Center.

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com