Dennis Evanosky

Firefighter-paramedics Steve Lucero, Jr. and Sam Yussim prepare their ambulance to go on a service call.

According to sources in the Alameda Fire Department, the city of Alameda will soon be spending $40,000 in taxpayer dollars to Harold C. Cohen's Arlington, Va. consulting firm, TriData, a division of System Planning Corporation. Cohen would spend 60 days studying the possibility of replacing the city's ambulance service with a private provider.

Domenick Weaver, president of the firefighters' union, told the Alameda Sun that the city's aim is to get six firefighters who provide the service today — two firefighters on each of the city's three ambulances — off the city's payroll. This would bring the number of firefighters (the paramedics are also firefighters) on duty from 24 per shift to 18 per shift. In essence a private ambulance service like American Medical Response (AMR) that serves the city of Oakland would step into the shoes of these six firefighters.

Weaver questions the city motives. According to Weaver, present-day ambulance service costs the city about $2 million. This is net cost, he explained. The city is now paying $4 million to maintain the ambulance service and receiving $2 million in payment from health-care providers like Kaiser.

Deputy City Manager Lisa Goldman confirmed that the city is negotiating with Cohen to do the study. "We are looking at a number of options," Goldman said. "These include expanding, contracting and redeploying the current service." Sending the service out to a private contractor is not necessarily an option, she said.

Cohen brings impressive credentials to the table. Before working as a consultant, he reportedly had some 30 years experience as a firefighter, paramedic and officer.

Cohen's TriData provided staff support and legal advice to the panel reviewing the Virginia Tech University mass-murder shootings of 2007. Cohen co-authored the "Emergency Medical Services and Incident Command" chapter in the panel's report.

Cohen did a similar fire department vs. private-ambulance study for Hunterdon County, N.J., last year. He helped the citizens of Quakertown resolve a conflict between and the Quakertown Volunteer Fire Services (VFS) and the Quakertown Volunteer Emergency Medical Services (VEMS).

According to the Hunterdon County Democrat a fire services' rescue truck rushing to the scene of a motor vehicle accident in Franklin Township passed an emergency medical services' ambulance, which was also responding. The fire department truck passed the ambulance in a no-passing zone and forced it off the road.

Cohen's study recommended that the Quakertown Volunteer EMS no longer be dispatched on calls in Franklin Township, and the Quakertown VFS should handle first-responder duties.

"This is a 'paid for' report the Quakertown Volunteer EMS folks were quick to point out. "Cohen came out with the opinion that (Quakertown) Mayor Shockley and the fire company wanted."

VEMS representatives said in a press release that they believed that that (Cohen's) recommendations would result in a decrease in the quality of services and an increase in cost to its residents.