Tower Health’s nonprofit ambulance company has been awarded three-year contracts to provide emergency 911 response services to two more eastern Berks County municipalities that were most recently served by Western Berks Ambulance.
The TowerDIRECT contracts with Amity and Union townships went into effect March 15.
Earlier this year, TowerDIRECT entered into similar contracts with Birdsboro and Phoenixville, Chester County.
In late 2022, West Lawn-based Western Berks Ambulance issued a notice to discontinue 911 ambulance service in Amity, Union and Birdsboro, saying it was losing money under the agreements made just two years earlier. Officials attributed it to unexpected increases in operating costs.
Western Berks CEO Anthony Tucci indicated at the time that the notice was intended to kick-start negotiations with the municipalities, which were previously served by Southern Berks Regional EMS before that company merged with TowerDIRECT in December 2020.
As part of the contract, Amity will provide ambulance memberships for all residents. This means township residents will not incur out-of-pocket expenses for emergency services, consistent with the details of their insurance coverage.
Revenue from a newly enacted 0.15-mill EMS tax on real estate — expected to generate $107,000 this year —will fund memberships for Amity residents. They will also receive discounted transportation for using TowerDIRECT for nonemergency patient transports.
To support the anticipated 1,700 medical calls annually in Amity alone, TowerDIRECT agreed to provide an advanced life support, or ALS, ambulance at its station at 824 East Benjamin Franklin Highway in the township.
The TowerDIRECT team anticipates responding to about 200 calls annually in Union, which will be serviced by the ALS ambulances from the Birdsboro and Amity stations.
Union Township contributes less than $2,500 annually to ambulance services, so its residents must pay for memberships, if they so desire, to avoid incurring upwards of $1,000 in out-of-pocket costs if an ambulance crew responds to their home on a 911 call.
A notice to residents on the township website states that membership drive information is being mailed by TowerDIRECT this month. A link to the TowerDIRECT ambulance membership page states that ambulance membership costs range from $45 to $75 per year, depending on the subscriber’s age and household size.
TowerDIRECT relocated its ALS ambulance from the Gibraltar Fire Company to Birdsboro (318 W. Main St.) to provide more timely response to the growing southern Berks territory covered by TowerDIRECT EMS.
TowerDIRECT will be dispatched by the Berks County 911 center. In addition to responding to 911 calls, Tower officials said, the TowerDIRECT team will provide medical care at community events such as parades, football games and other large public gatherings.
In the health system’s announcement of the move, Tower Health President and CEO P. Sue Perrotty said: “As we continue to expand services to the communities we care for, we’ve also grown the TowerDIRECT team. Since the beginning of the year, we have added three new ambulances and a total of 28 new EMTs, paramedics, and pre-hospital nurses.
“We are so pleased these professionals made the choice to join our team and provide high-quality care to our patients in Amity and Union townships.”
