Cities Expected To Enter Ambulance Agreement

ROGERS — An interlocal agreement between Rogers and Lowell for ambulance service has Rogers Fire Chief Tom Jenkins smiling.

Aldermen are expected Tuesday to approve the agreement between the two cities.

“I can’t say enough about how Lowell has stepped up to the plate on this one,” Jenkins said Friday.

The agreement calls for Lowell to pay Rogers $400 for every ambulance call that ends in transporting a Lowell resident to a hospital.

Jenkins estimated Rogers answers three to four calls a month in Lowell and has for several years.

Lowell has a similar agreement with Springdale. Rogers has a similar agreement with Little Flock

The Little Flock agreement stipulates the town pays Rogers $17,281 per year to provide ambulance service. Little Flock residents are charged $400 to $550 for an ambulance call.

The Rogers Fire Department bills patients, but that doesn’t begin to cover the cost of operating an ambulance service, Jenkins said.

“The $400 the city of Lowell will pay the city of Rogers helps the bottom line.It doesn’t cover the entire cost, but it helps,” Jenkins said.

“This is good thing Lowell is doing. I appreciate the Lowell government for its effort to pay a fair share for ambulance service,” Jenkins said.

Lowell Mayor Perry Long said Friday the agreement is something that is needed.

“We been very fortunate that Springdale and Rogers have given us ambulance service for many years at no charge. It’s gotten to the point it’s so expensive torun a paramedic ambulance service we felt we needed to contribute,” Long said.

Lowell officials considered establishing a paramedic ambulance service but discovered such a service would initially cost $600,000 to $1 million and would cost more than $400,000 a year to operate.

“We want to provide paramedic service to our citizens, this is the way we can do that right now,” Long said.

Lowell pays Springdale approximately $80,000 per year for ambulance service, Long said.

Lowell and Little Flock aren’t the biggest problem for the Rogers ambulance service.

“The 500-pound gorilla in the room is the county calls we make every year,” Jenkins said.

Rogers ambulances make about 1,000 runs into the county every year and the county contributes nothing to the Rogers Fire Department.

“We’ve had some very productive meetings with county officials and we’re hoping we can reach some agreement in the near future. I know the county has fi nancial constraints just like everybody else right now, but we can’t keeping supplying the county ambulance service forever without some help,” Jenkins said.