ELDRED – The Eldred Borough Fire Department is making an effort
to get the community involved in supporting the ambulance services
funding.

To that end, an informational meeting was held Sunday at the
firehall. Ambulance Capt. Frank Kaziska said, “We are strapped. We
need EMTs and drivers. And to keep up the level of care, the
department has been negotiating with area ALS (Advanced Life
Support) departments.”

Kaziska said Eldred has a 60-40 agreement with Coudersport ALS,
no agreement at the present time with Olean and the contract with
Bradford expires Oct. 31.

He explained that Medicare will not pay enough to cover the
costs, adding, “We are not bound by law to ALS, but we are willing
to work with them.”

Eldred has terminated its contract with Priority Care in
Smethport.

The Eldred Borough Fire Department’s third party billing
contractor of 25 years, Kim Shank of Indiana, Pa., and the Ambcoch
Co., attending the meeting. She noted the Eldred fire department
has not been asking enough in their subscriber membership
drive.

Shank said most companies would be asked for $40.

Kaziska said “We want to bill everyone the same and Medicare
expects us to make an effort to collect the deductibles or
co-pay.”

Without a contract with other ALS departments, the Eldred area
residents will be paying more for their services. It has not yet
been decided what the rates will be in the upcoming membership
drive.

It was explained that private insurance companies are now
following suit with Medicare, where before they paid more. Now that
patients are getting bills from ALS, and they are wondering
why.

Kaziska said “We are trying to make our department
self-sufficient, but without a contract we can’t be.”