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Public Safety
Palo Alto works to unroll ambulance subscription for community
Palo Alto Fire Department is fully stocked and staffed, ready to answer any emergency call. These ambulances will be part of the upcoming subscription program. (Photo provided by Palo Alto Fire Department)
By BETH ANNE BRINK-COX | The Municipal
Palo Alto, Calif., is working to implement a new program you have likely never heard of, and when it all falls into place, it’s hoped that the success will make you wonder how you ever lived without it. Many people, some of whom you might know, maybe even yourself, have needed ambulance rides. But the cost can be so prohibitive that sometimes those calls aren’t made, and that can have devastating results to one who is injured or ill, or to the elderly or disabled who need assistance quickly. To those who are sworn to serve, this is not a decision they want to see made, and they won’t settle for less than their best efforts to care for their community any way they can. So what is the solution? On Sept. 21, 2021, part of the business discussed at the finance committee staff meeting was the wish to begin a new service for the community: fire department ambulance subscription. Three steps were taken to begin — reviewing and recommending the idea for the program, adopting ordinances to establish the program and fees, and approving a budget amendment in the general fund. PAFD Fire Chief Geoffrey Blackshire explained it very well, as his department is one of 10 municipal fire departments in California and one of only 259 in the world to achieve international accreditation. 40 THE MUNICIPAL | MARCH 2022
This places the department among less than 1% of fire departments in the world, and it is the only agency in Santa Clara County that also provides ambulance service. Those are some stellar qualifications, but what was the impetus? Blackshire said, “The proposal for an ambulance service fee, which we proposed in the fiscal year of 2021, is modeled after other fire departments, such as Anaheim, Orange, and Huntington Beach. All have found success in offering the program to their residents.” With COVID-19 statistics and the ongoing pandemic, you might assume that there would be more ambulance calls than ever, as more and more people became so gravely ill. That was not the case, said Blackwell. “The number of overall calls for service decreased during the height of the pandemic, primarily due to shelter in place mandates. There was a reduction in the daily population of people coming into Palo Alto for work, travel, restaurants, shopping and so on. As businesses reopened and the daily population returned to the city, the volume of calls for service has returned.”
