Ambulance available to Campbell residents

MedStar left city without service for 24-36 hours

CAMPBELL -- Mayor Bryan Tedesco is breathing a sigh of relief after the city had gone more than a day without ambulance coverage.

"It was like a bad nightmare. I panicked," Tedesco said after Wednesday's city council meeting.

For reasons neither he nor fire Chief Steve Dubic could fully explain, MedStar Ambulance announced Saturday it would not be providing service or staffing to the city of about 7,900 residents, which prompted city officials to ask residents to refrain from requesting an ambulance unless absolutely necessary.

Tedesco and Dubic said the potentially dire situation was likely an internal company problem and had nothing to do with the city.

After Wednesday's session, however, a MedStar representative and a company ambulance were at the Campbell Fire Department. The representative refused to comment about MedStar's decision. The company has resumed ambulance service in the city, according to Tedesco.

Tedesco said he was informed about the situation Saturday morning. As a result, he contacted Kenneth Joseph, chief executive officer for North Canton-based Emergency Medical Transport, which took over ambulance service in Youngstown on Jan. 1 from American Medical Response.

AMR’s contract expired Dec. 31, 2022, and the city severed its relationship with the company when the two sides were unable to reach an extension.

Before resuming service to Campbell, EMT had answered several calls in the city for the 24- or 36-hour period when MedStar had ceased its coverage, the mayor said.

Tedesco speculated that someone may have been fired from MedStar or some other disruption may have occurred internally, though he was unable to say what it was.

Dubic said his department responds first when someone calls 911 to request an ambulance. The fire department often will call for an ambulance and, if necessary, make additional rounds of calls to seek mutual aid.

An ambulance may respond quickly, if readily available, though it can take up to 45 minutes or longer, Dubic said. He said firefighters also can assist a victim’s family members to get that person to a hospital as soon as possible.

Mutual aid can include neighboring Lowellville or Coitsville, both of whom rely on volunteer ambulance services, Dubic said.

Also confused about MedStar’s decision to stop its service Saturday was city Law Director Brian Macala, who said the problem could have arisen after some employees hadn’t been paid.Campbell lacks the money to fund its own ambulance service, but that doesn’t mean efforts won’t continue to try to rectify the problem via considering other, sound options, he said.

“The city needs ambulance service, but how we get there is part of the game plan,” Macala said.