Castroville Area MCESD1 Fire Chief Clint Cooke gives a presentation to board members regarding extending its ambulance operations to include Devine as Sarah Windsor, Assistant Fire Chief, and Pat Bourcier, Allegiance Director, listen. Photo by Anton Riecher
By Anton Riecher
At the request of Medina County Emergency Services District 4’s board of commissioners, Castroville area MCESD1 Fire Chief Clint Cooke made a presentation to the board July 2 on extending its ambulance operations to include Devine as an alternative to the present contract with Allegiance Mobile Health.
“Anytime you can eliminate invisible boundaries you help yourself,” Cooke said. “The neighbors can work together.”
The presentation preceded a budget workshop session for the upcoming 2025-2026 fiscal year.
ESD4 board president Steve Smith said Allegiance is also being invited to submit a new proposal for continued service beyond its present contract.
“We’re going to ask for an apples-to-apples (comparison) from Allegiance and see what they come back to us with,” he said.
Complete video coverage of the meeting is posted at the Devine News’s YouTube channel.
According to its Facebook page, ESD1 is a full service fire and EMS agency that covers slightly less than 700 square miles of Medina County, including Castroville and LaCoste. ESD1 also took charge of fire protection in Hondo last November through a contract with ESD6 that replaced the Hondo Volunteer Fire Department.
ESD1 recently launched its own transport EMS service with one of its four ambulances based in La Coste. Cooke said some questioned whether its new service could be of assistance in the Devine area when it was initiated.
“The question you always have to ask yourself is what level of service can be provided?” he said. “How sustainable is it? And is that level meeting our needs?”
It was decided to only offer assistance to Devine “when asked,” Cooke said.
Allegiance formerly held the ambulance service contract for ESD1. Cooke said he notified the company’s representatives when he took charge that the district would eventually take charge of its own ambulance service, bringing it completely in house. That transition was accomplished over a three-year period.
The question was not about quality of service, but long-term sustainability, Cooke said.
“I told them it was not personal,” he said. “This is a business decision we’ve got to make.”
Devine’s ESD4 operates two ambulances to cover roughly 165 square miles, Cook said. A two ambulance service is “very, very tough” to manage from a recruitment standpoint, he said. Also, although there is efficiency in size, administration and maintenance costs can be overwhelming.
“For 20 square miles you (ESD4) have ridiculously good coverage because two ambulances come out of the same building,” Cooke said. “Those other 140 square miles, to me, they’re constantly getting the short end of the stick because they never have an opportunity for that four-minute response time.”
By comparison, the four ambulance system operated by ESD1 includes an additional two fully functional ambulances in reserve at all times. With 34 pieces of apparatus on hand, the district maintains…LOGIN TO CONTINUE READING at www.devinenewsmembers.com. You will get instant access to our full E-edition, and begin getting the newspaper delivered to your home next week for $36 a year in Medina County. Support important local city, county, and school news like this!
