tellusyourcares

Byline: Joan Kent

Jan. 28--The city of La Crosse is considering going into the emergency ambulance business.

Mayor Mark Johnsrud wants to revive a proposal, first raised in 2002, to have the La Crosse Fire Department provide ambulance service, saying he believes it will generate revenue for the city after startup costs are paid.

In addition, the fire department's response times are as good or better than Tri-State Ambulance Inc., the Gundersen Lutheran subsidiary that now provides the service in La Crosse, he said.

The fire department can reach some locations more quickly than Tri-State because it has four stations, while Tri-State dispatches from one site ...

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-141458676.html

wecares

who cares if there is a court case in the works. That is what their medical malpractice insurance is for, Jerry.

They don't need it, we do. We already pay for it in our taxes. Charge us twice? C'mon, you think its OK? Then next time you go to the store, go ahead and pay twice the amount for your groceries. I hear someone fell at the store and they have a lawsuit, so you might want to help them out.

People people people slow down don't be so cruel. A court case in da works against the AMR company. They needed this period. Nuff said.

Well, sorry, very insipid article. Seems she is not aware of the ramfications it may bring to residents of Tracy. Must be the view of an elitist?

Perhaps Cindy would like to prepare all those paperworks... unpaid.

Its very clear that this person Cindy Adams is very wealthy and affluent, lets hope this comes to pass on her and she get a bill from the City. Typical of a person who works in goverment and is out of touch reality and totally cluelerss

In the Wednesday edition of the Tracy Press, you reported the new fees the Tracy City Counsel imposed on the citizens. The fee is to cover the medical calls by people through no fault of their own that need to call a paramedic. This only hurts the citizens that can least afford to pay these fees. This is nothing short of a legal shake down to impose endless fees to cover their incompetence and wasteful life style of the rich and famous at City Hall. We should start a recall campaign to immediately recall on the four city counsel members that voted for this outrage. We have a huge reserve we should use it for that purpose.

What next, will they impose fees to call 911, a fee to call the police in the middle of a robbery, a fee to enter and exist Tracy. Then a fee to drive and own a car, then a fee to call the Tracy Fire Department while your house burns, and if you do not pay these fees the police and fire will not come. Then they will divide the city in west and east Tracy and set up a wall of amour plating and set-up a checkpoint. Where you need pay for a permit to travel between east and west Tracy. Then they will require you to wear a yellow Star of David, as proof you purchase the permit.

This shows the lack of intelligence by our City Counsel to find solutions. They are totally out of touch and not facing reality with the terrible economic straits people are facing in Tracy. Like most politicians, their only solution is to create new taxes and fees. We need to start a recall, and remove these people and put people in office that have to work for a living and understand people are tapped out. Many households in Tracy, one or both head of households are not working, we have a high unemployment rate higher than the national average, our 401K’s are almost worthless; our property values are 70% less of what they were in 2006. This is not our fault, then why do politicians treat as if we created this mess.

Al Galaviz

With the latest on the $300 charge for fire/EMT assistance, here's another wrench to throw into the works.

If you're involved in a traffic collision, police are usually dispatched. When the officer arrives he/she will make a decision if an ambulance is needed. Usually when AMR (American Medical Response) is summoned, fire is automatically summoned too.

So let's say both fire and AMR arrive and decide their assistance is not needed...does the involved collision party get charged $300? And if they're from out-of-town, are they charged $400?

Since it's the officers decision to call out fire and AMR will TPD get charged the $300?

What if the vehicle party refuses medical assistance? Do they still get charged? They didn't make the call for help, the police did.

This $300 is going to open up a whole new can of worms.

Are you kidding.... I hope you and the council feel guilt for the one who dies because they refuse the help due to the fees that come with it. Unfortunately, it will happen. The rational of this decision might change your mind if you get involved in an accident and have to pay the cost of every resource that comes to your aid. Do you really know who these cost will benefit? It sure won't be the tax payers. It certainly will help to pay those high price consultants.