American Legion Ambulance Company is cutting back on the number of ambulances it puts on the roads in Amador and CalaverasCounties. Al Lennox, President of American Legion Ambulance, says the company’s call volume and revenues are down about 15%. Lennox blames the drop in call volumes on the economy. “There’s less tourism, and less travel on the roads,” he told TSPN. More Medi-Cal ambulance patients are reducing reimbursements for services, Lennox says, “and we’re seeing more and more people who have been laid off and have no health insurance at all.” Lennox says in the first 6 months of his fiscal year, the company ran a deficit – had they continued with no cost correction, the ambulance service would have shown a deficit of $150,000 for the year. Lennox says he has informed the supervisors of both Amador and Calaveras of the force reduction of about 15%. No one has been laid off – Lennox says they’ve shifted some full time to part time workers and some part-timers to per diem work. “This is the best way to adjust to the drop in revenue, with the least impact on 9-1-1 calls,” said Lennox.
Tuesday, 22 January 2008 23:39