Suburban ambulance service fades out

Paramedics will keep their jobs and seniority when the ambulance service that has covered Apple Valley, Lakeville and Farmington for 22 years is replaced by Allina Medical Transportation.

The board of ALF Ambulance voted Monday to disband the municipal ambulance provider and outsource the service to Allina Medical Transportation. Allina is expected to take over in February, said Brian Landhuis, ALF's interim administrator.

Allina has offered to let ALF paramedics continue serving in their current coverage area.

"Obviously, we feel it's in the best interests of our communities to keep these employees working in the area where they're familiar," Landhuis said. "They know the geographics, they know the demographics, they know the patients, and they know the first-responders."

The union that represents ALF's 18 paramedics had opposed the move, saying the ambulance crews had developed a close relationship with local first-responders and the community. The union had collected 800 signatures on a petition asking that ALF be spared.

Allina had assured the union that the paramedics would keep their jobs, but the issue of seniority had been unresolved.

Although ALF will not continue providing ambulance services, ALF's locally run board and committee will still be in place to oversee Allina's contract and help ensure quality service, said Steve Mielke, Lakeville's city administrator and a member of ALF's executive management committee.

Contracting out the service could save the cities a combined $61,000 annually.

ALF Ambulance, which was formed in 1985, serves about 124,000 people in an area covering 160 square miles. The board had decided to explore the idea of contracting for services in June because of growth in the communities and a 9 percent to 11 percent annual increase in the number of calls. Paramedics work a 24-hour shift, but with more calls and less time to sleep between calls, the board was concerned it could affect the quality of care paramedics are able to give patients.

"ALF has done a fantastic job of meeting the mission of providing high-quality care over the last 20 years," Landhuis said after the meeting at Lakeville City Hall. "While personally, my heart is still with ALF, I think the decision is really going to benefit the communities."

The union, however, still has reservations. "We think it's risky to change a service provider, especially one as respected as ALF currently is, and turn it over to the private sector where the public will have another layer of bureaucracy if there are problems," said Jerry Serfling, a field director for AFSCME Council 5.

The next step in the process, Mielke said, is to negotiate the final language of the contract for service with Allina. ALF will also have to work with its union to negotiate the employees' end of contract.