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WEST WYOMING — The West Wyoming Community Ambulance is set to shut down Aug. 2 after more than 50 years serving residents in West Wyoming and surrounding boroughs.
The ambulance service, founded in 1968, seems to be going the way of many emergency services in small municipalities as they face shrinking budgets and lack of volunteers.
Len Hromek, Deputy Fire Chief, said the move was made necessary by the decision of Wyoming Borough to use a different ambulance provider for basic life support calls.
Hromek said he didn’t understand the decisions of the neighboring borough to switch its ambulance provider to Greater Pittston Ambulance, citing the need for 24-hour coverage.
“Wyoming Borough always had 24-hour ambulance coverage,” Hromek said. “During the hours six hours we were without staffing, Greater Pittston responded.”
Greater Pittston ambulance’s response during the hours of noon to 6 a.m., when paid staff was not on duty, was part of West Wyoming ambulance’s system of providing ambulance services to its residents, he said.
“Greater Pittston was somewhat like a sub-contractor for West Wyoming ambulance,” Hromek said. “There was never a problem with response times or services. West Wyoming absorbed any unpaid costs if Greater Pittston went out. There was not any cost to Wyoming Borough.”
Hromek said representatives of West Wyoming Ambulance spoke with Wyoming Borough officials and felt they had answered all the questions Wyoming Borough officials had.
Hromek said it is unfortunate Wyoming Borough never provided official notice to the West Wyoming Ambulance that it would no longer use its services.
“We found out about it by word of mouth and on social media,” he said.
West Wyoming’s provision of ambulance service to Wyoming Borough followed a 2016 decision by Wyoming Borough to use West Wyoming as its ambulance provider, a move that would allow West Wyoming Ambulance to include residents of Wyoming Borough in its annual fund drive.
West Wyoming Ambulance then made the move of hiring paid staff to man the ambulance from 6 a.m. until midnight.
Hromek said, in spite of political issues and miscommunication, at the heart of the problem long term is a lack of volunteers.
Swoyersville Borough Mayor Chris Concert echoed Hromek’s belief that the provision of services by municipal ambulance organizations is becoming a thing of the past due to a reduction in the number of volunteers available.
Swoyersville Ambulance closed last year, Concert said, and since then Kingston Ambulance has provided excellent, timely services.
Concert said he had worked to keep Swoyersville Borough’s ambulance up and running, but it became financially impossible for the organization to provide services and support itself.
Hromek said he has heard rumblings that residents will now face longer response times for an ambulance to get to them in an emergency.
“Residents should not expect to see any change in services,” he said. “State and county regulations mean that they can continue to expect timely responses.”
Gary Stavish, West Wyoming Borough Council chairman, said the borough will now put out bids to choose an ambulance provider at its August meeting.
Although the borough is not under a legal obligation to put the matter out for bid, Stavish said the council members are committed to due diligence in selecting a provider.
Wyoming Borough Mayor Joseph Dominick could not be reached for comment, but has previously said the borough’s decision to use Greater Pittston as its ambulance provider was based on that organization’s ability to provide 24-hour service.
