Final payment is made on ambulance building, other financial challenges loom

The Onaway Area Ambulance Service has come a long way since sharing the old Onaway city garage in the early 1990s. In 1994 and 1995, Onaway Ambulance Service (OAAS) decided to upgrade to an Advanced Life Support Service.

A necessary part of the upgrade was acquiring a building to house the operation.

According to former ambulance board chairman Wayne Vermilya, the board spent many hours working out the details to make it all come together.

?There was much discussion and at times serious disagreement, but, when the debate was over the municipalities who share the operation of the service agreed to jointly purchase the new ambulance facility,? Vermilya said.

THE FINAL PAYMENT of a little more than $1,000 was made in October, according to bookkeeper Debbie St. Germaine. The monthly payments from the municipalities of Allis, North Allis, Bearinger, Ocqueoc, Case, Forest, Waverly Townships, the City of Onaway, and the Hillman Fire Department for Montmorency Township had been $1,180 a month prior to the final payment becoming due, St. Germaine said.

?Each municipality now owns a share in the success of the service,? Vermilya said. ?As we all know, the Onaway Area Ambulance Service is a top notch organization.?

To become a provider of Advanced Life services, the OAAS agreed to purchase a building on M-211 from Dave Kolasa for about $50,000.

The total cost for the building and the improvements was $120,000. It has three ambulances, an echo unit, crew?s quarters, and a paramedic on duty 24 hours a day.

OAAS COORDINATOR DALLAS HYDE said the operation went from very basic emergency services such as CPR and mouth-to-mouth procedures to being able to put a tube in a patients lungs, shocking someone?s failing heart, or administering drugs to slow it down.

?Things have gotten a lot better,? said Hyde, of the service and of the financial status of the operation. ?We didn?t have money in the bank or any type of cushion.?

He said OAAS was only making it from payroll to payroll in the early days. ?We were barely making ends meet,? he said.

Although there is a looming financial challenge with the Hillman Fire Department turning down its one-ninth ownership to join the Atlanta Ambulance Service, the financial condition is sound. It has been made all the better with a $130,000 bequest from the estate of Paul and Mae Wagner.

The donation was used to purchase a brand new $90,000 ambulance and two state-of-the-art cardiac monitors.

Hyde said the units are ?two of the top manufactured monitors on the market.? They came at a reasonable price as well. One costs about $20,000, but OAAS was able to get two for $25,000.

OAAS NOW has money in the bank, Hyde said, and a restricted account with enough funding in place to purchase another ambulance unit when needed.

Hyde believes the savings from interest on payments for v

ehicles and on the building will be needed with the Hillman Fire Department leaving at the end of March. He believes OAAS could lose about $20,000 annually from the area that services Canada Creek Ranch.

OAAS averages about 18 to 20 runs a year to the area. It also means OAAS will no longer will be able to sell any ambulance subscriptions in that area.

The Hillman Fire Department, per the inter-local agreement, had to give a 90-day notice, which was submitted January 1, Hyde said.

The coordinator said the loss of the entity is an issue that will be discussed at budget meetings in April.

So, the last couple of months have brought good news with the final payments going out on the building, but with it comes financial challenges in the coming months of the New Year.