Troy committee backs emergency approval to restore 911 response at Upper Valley Medical Center, accept donated ambulance

The Troy Safety and Health Committee on Feb. 10 recommended that the City Council authorize the director of public safety to sign two documents to restore primary 911 emergency response at Upper Valley Medical Center (UVMC) and to accept a donated Sprinter ambulance.

Chair William Twist said the committee was meeting "to provide a recommendation to council regarding the authorization for the director of public safety to execute 2 documents, related to providing emergency 911 responses to the Upper Valley Medical Center campus." The two documents described to the committee were (1) a five-year agreement for the Troy Fire Department to provide primary emergency response to the UVMC campus and (2) an agreement to accept $175,000 from the UVMC Community Benefits Fund toward purchase and outfitting of a Sprinter ambulance.

The contract under discussion would return Troy to a primary-response posture at the hospital campus after several years in which private ambulance services handled most campus calls. Assistant Fire Chief Wade Dexter said the new, smaller Sprinter ambulance would be "used to take some of the lower priority calls" and "also be used to provide these 911 services out at the Upper Valley campus." Call priority is dispatched by Miami County in priority levels 1 through 5, with priority 1 being life-threatening and priority 5 low-acuity complaints.

Committee members and Troy staff described operational details discussed but not yet finalized: the ambulance model will be equipped to the same medical capabilities as other ambulances in the fleet; stationing had not been decided but options discussed included Station 12 or Station 13; staffing arrangements were still under discussion with the union; and the expected call volume tied to UVMC was estimated at about 50 to 75 calls per year. Diane Runkamp, director of finance for Upper Valley and Premier Health, clarified that the vehicle donation would come from the "UVMC Community Benefits Fund, not the UVMC Foundation." She said UVMC’s utilization of Troy’s services is "pretty much gonna be unchanged."

Committee materials note a proposed primary-response payment rate of $15.19 per run, with an inflation escalator mentioned in committee discussion; committee members asked staff to confirm final contract language and that the $175,000 figure would cover outfitting to Troy’s standards. Committee members also recalled that prior to service changes around 2015–2017 the department had handled more than 200 calls a year to the campus, while recent backup responses totaled about 60 calls.

By consensus the committee voted to "move forward with emergency" referral of the two items to City Council for formal authorization. No formal council action occurred at the committee meeting; final authority rests with Troy City Council and subsequent procurement and delivery timelines will determine when the ambulance enters service.

The committee discussion and staff remarks focused on restoring primary 911 coverage for the hospital campus while leaving nonemergency, intercampus patient transports to UVMC’s private transport arrangements.