ANSWERING THE CALL
Tower Health looking to provide ambulance service to 3 Berks municipalities
Tower Health’s nonprofit ambulance company is poised to take over emergency medical calls in three eastern Berks County municipalities that were left in the lurch after their current provider demanded significantly more funding to continue 911 EMS service.
Birdsboro Borough Council recently approved a three-year contract with TowerDIRECT, the West Reading-based health system’s nonprofit ambulance company, effective today.
Action on agreements with TowerDirect are on tonight’s meeting agendas of the supervisors in Amity and Union townships.
In December, West Lawnbased Western Berks Ambulance gave a 90-day notice of its intention to discontinue service to Birdsboro as well as Amity and Union townships, saying it could not afford to operate at the funding levels set when the three municipalities entered into agreements for the service.
Western Berks operated ambulance stations in Birdsboro and Amity Township the last two years.
Anthony Tucci, Western Berks CEO, was unavailable Tuesday.
Tucci told the Reading Eagle in December that the 61-yearold emergency response company was losing money providing service to each of those municipalities and couldn’t continue to operate at a loss.
In presentations to the respective municipal boards in the fall, Tucci related that Western Berks calculated the cost of operating an ambulance station in or adjacent to each community to respond quickly to 911 calls, and the level of municipal funding required for the ambulance association to break even.
All three municipalities said at that time that they were seeking an alternative provider.
“With ambulance companies struggling to stay afloat — financially as well as with staffing — the alternatives are limited, so their focus was on minimizing cost increases. Officials noted Pennsylvania municipalities are required by law to provide 911 ambulance service for their residents.
We are a service that is in crisis mode,” Tucci said at the time. “We hope to stay, but we cannot do it for a continuing loss. We’re a nonprofit. We’re not a municipal entity, so we don’t have the ability to raise taxes to generate additional income.”
To close the operating deficits, he said Union Township and Birdsboro would each need to contribute $125 per household, while Amity Township, owing to its large population, would need to contribute $80 per household.
For Union, that would amount to an annual contribution of $178,000. The township’s 2023 budget includes a total contribution of $2,155 to Western Berks Ambulance, the same figure as the previous year.
For Birdsboro, that would have amounted to a $251,000 contribution, more than four times what it paid to Western Berks in 2022 and budgeted for 2023.
Amity supervisors have pledged more funding, but it’s still far short of what Western Berks says is needed to close a $325,000 deficit.
Amity’s 2023 budget included a new 0.15 mill EMS tax on real estate that is expected to generate $107,000 in 2023 for its EMS provider, Township Manager Troy Bingaman told the Eagle in December.
Bingaman said Tuesday that TowerDIRECT offered to provide EMS service to the township at a rate of $45 per household, which would be funded by the EMS tax. If approved by the supervisors, the agreement would take effect March
“It was too late to make changes to the budget this year so the borough will absorb the additional $15.”
— Borough Manager Kelly J. Yanos
15, when the Western Berks contract expires.
New agreement
Birdsboro’s cost under its TowerDIRECT contract will increase 51% to $90,630 annually, Borough Manager Kelly J. Yanos said Tuesday.
For their share, Birdsboro residents are charged $30 per household per year, a fee that is tacked onto property tax bills. Because of the higher costs, the perresident share jumps to $45 per year, but residents will pay $30 in 2023 due to the last-minute change.
“It was too late to make changes to the budget this year so the borough will absorb the additional $15,” Yanos said.
Borough officials haven’t formally discussed where to find the funds in the current budget to cover the additional costs, she said.
As part of the contract, borough residents receive an ambulance membership, as they had with Western Berks. This means residents will not incur out-of-pocket expenses for emergency services, consistent with the details of their insurance coverage.
Borough residents will also be entitled to discounts on TowerDIRECT nonemergency transport services.
Tower Health entered into a similar contract with Phoenixville at the beginning of the year.
In a statement, Tower Health President and CEO P. Sue Perrotty said:
“Having access to highquality EMS care is an essential piece of health care. I am so pleased the TowerDIRECT team will be able to provide this level of service to the Birdsboro community.
“Over the last month in Phoenixville, we’ve seen firsthand the difference our team members make for their patients and their families, and I know TowerDIRECT will make the same impact to our friends and neighbors in Birdsboro.”
Details on the TowerDIRECT proposed agreement with Union was unavailable.