Clemente celebrates anniversary

With revenues being squeezed and costs rising, a business owner is continuing to fight on.

By DON SHILLING

VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR

STRUTHERS — As business conditions toughen, Eileen Clemente has thought about selling her ambulance business. Or perhaps retiring.

But either of those decisions would be too much like quitting. She certainly isn't a quitter. And neither was her late husband, Sam.

The couple was young and recently married when they created Clemente Funeral Home and Clemente Ambulance Service in 1966.

"When you started from nothing, it's hard to give up," she said. "Forty years of your life is hard to leave behind."

How it was then

Times have changed since then, however. In the early days, she would be the dispatcher, and Sam would drive the ambulance.

No one expected advanced medical care, so Sam usually picked up the patient, stopped at the hospital and returned in less than an hour.

Time was important because the couple had a funeral home to run as well.

"It was a combination hearse-ambulance," she said. "He'd take the light off when he came back, put a sign in and we'd have a funeral."

The couple needed 10 years to build the funeral home business to a decent level because of the long-standing relationships area residents had with other funeral homes.

Those years were hectic and stressful for the Clementes, not just as business owners but also as parents.

The couple lived paycheck to paycheck as they built their businesses, and they raised their two children in a home on top of the funeral home. The casket selection room was in their family room, and the children had to be careful not to make noise during services or calling hours.

The good times

In some ways, though, those were the good times, Clemente said.

"It was more fun back then. Now, it's more serious because of the finances," she said.

Today, the ambulance company runs 11 vehicles, which cost $130,000 each to buy and equip. Operations must adhere to government regulations for advanced medical care. Insurance companies decide on payments, except when a patient doesn't have insurance, and then the company must push people to pay.

Business is tough because insurance companies are reducing payments, and many area residents don't have insurance or the money to self-pay, Clemente said. Meanwhile, costs are escalating — liability insurance, employee health insurance, workers' compensation.

In the past five years, she has had to lay off five managers so the company can survive. She said it was the hardest part of the job.

"When you are a family business, you want to think with your heart, but you can't. You have to think with your head," she said.

The ambulance business has 120 full- and part-time employees, and the funeral home employs four.

Husband was killed

The decisions on how to run the company fell to her when her husband was killed in a car crash in 1989. He was driving near Hubbard when his car struck draft horses that had walked out into the road.

Although she always had been involved with the business, it was Sam who handled financial decisions, including the accounting and banking.

Two things drove her to succeed, Clemente said. First, she realized that the business was bigger than her husband. Employees counted on the company for a living, and the community counted on it for funerals and medical care.

Second, she heard the whispers that people were saying she could never run the business on her own.

"It was like telling any woman that she can't do something. It was a drive for me," she said.

Family involved

Today, Clemente, 63, is company president.

"I don't know if it's a title or a headache," she said with a laugh.

Her son, Sam, 38, operates the funeral homes — the original location on Fifth Street in Struthers and a home opened in New Middletown in 1976. He graduated from Pittsburgh Mortuary School in 1990.

Her daughter, Cindy, 40, oversees the ambulance side, which moved its headquarters to Youngstown-Poland Road in 1986. She is a graduate of John Carroll University, majoring in communications and business.

All three family members say they are determined to keep the business going beyond its 40th anniversary.

They say their optimism stems from the dedication of their employees, including Dave Fiffick, company general manager, and his wife, Lisa, who handles human resources. They have been with the company for 25 years.

And the family relies on the example of the late Sam Clemente, who poured himself into the young company and prepared it for the future.

shilling@vindy.com