Trending
The Maui News
The Maui County Council will consider a resolution on Friday that urges the state Department of Health to continue contracting American Medical Response for Maui County's emergency medical response services.
AMR, which has been providing emergency services for the county for the past 44 years, filed a bid protest Sept. 5 after the DOH selected a different company, Falck Northwest Corp., on Aug. 29 for a nearly $59 million contract that begins Dec. 28 and ends on June 30, 2027.
Falck was also awarded a $32 million contract for services on Kauai.
The Maui County Paramedics Association and Kauai Paramedics Association have not taken a position on the awarding of the contracts, but earlier this month, they raised concerns over the DOH's request for contract proposals, saying that the state had not set a minimum level of advanced life support unit coverage.
Maui County's system is designed as a 100 percent advanced life support system, but the unions worry that under the new contracts, there will no longer be a guarantee that an advanced life support unit will respond to emergencies.
AMR's standard has been for ambulances to carry at least one paramedic and be able to provide advanced-life support, which proved critical in their response to the Aug. 8 wildfires, the council's resolution says.
The resolution also points to media reports stating that in the past, Falck apparently failed to meet response times under its contracts in California and been subject to substantial fines.
"The Council and the community are very concerned about this contract," Council Chairwoman Alice Lee, who introduced the resolution, said in a news release Friday. "AMR has performed very well for the past 44 years, as they demonstrated in their response to the wildfires. They know our community and our needs. We do not want services to be cut, nor do we want a contractor who has under-performed in other communities."
Jeff Lucia, the director of communications for Falck USA, said in a statement on Wednesday that "there are rumors being published in the media about a supposed reduction in Advanced Life Support (ALS) services.
"This is simply not true; no reduction in ALS services has been proposed or discussed," he said. "You will see this when our bid is made public."
Responding to reported issues with Falck's services in San Diego, Lucia said, "The pandemic had a profound and well-documented impact on the healthcare workforce in cities across the U.S., served by public and private ambulance providers alike. After offering generous pay increases and unprecedented signing bonuses, Falck's San Diego operation is now fully staffed and meeting or exceeding the city's staffing requirements."
Lucia said in another email Thursday that Falck will provide an equal or greater number of paramedics on duty and Falck's intent is to hire the entire current workforce of paramedics and EMTs.
The DOH has said it is unable to comment because AMR filed a bid protest.
Lee said she expected the resolution to be adopted at the council's Oct. 6 meeting.
To view the full agenda and BlueJeans videoconferencing link for Friday's meeting, and for the Oct. 6 meeting once it is posted, visit mauicounty.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx.
For more information, email the Office of Council Services at media@maui
county.us.