Grand Chute Fire Department to begin ambulance service in 2025, nudging out Gold Cross

GRAND CHUTE — The Grand Chute Fire Department will begin providing paramedic-level ambulance service for town residents, businesses and visitors effective Jan. 1.

The cost of the service will be billed to patients.

"We look forward with great anticipation to providing the most advanced, highest quality prehospital care to our community from the initial 911 call to the delivery of a patient to the hospital starting in 2025," Fire Chief Steve Denzien said.

The service is currently provided by Gold Cross Ambulance Service Inc., a nonprofit regional response system owned by Ascension Wisconsin and ThedaCare. Gold Cross operates as many as 18 ambulances, including one stationed on West Nordale Drive in Grand Chute that also serves Greenville, Ellington and Center.

Nick Romenesko, operations director for Gold Cross, predicted Grand Chute's decision to go it alone will prove less efficient than the regional model, which can respond with three, four or five ambulances from nearby areas if the need arises.

"When you add an ambulance in a silo, like they're going to be doing in Grand Chute, it's really going to affect the communities around Grand Chute in a negative way," Romenesko told The Post-Crescent. "Health care costs are going to go up as a result of this decision in Grand Chute."

Romenesko said Gold Cross will reassign its ambulance in Grand Chute to another service area.

Will the change increase property taxes in Grand Chute?

Town officials said the ambulance service can be provided without any increase in property taxes. Billing patients for the service will generate revenue for the town, instead of Gold Cross, and will be sufficient to offset the cost of operations, equipment and insurance, according to town projections.

"Everyplace I've ever seen it usually breaks even," Town Administrator Richard Downey said. "We're going to be cautious, and the chief is going to make sure he monitors all the expenses as he moves forward, as am I."

Gold Cross analyzed Grand Chute's financial projections and came to a different conclusion.

"Our analysis shows additional expenses that include hiring more medics to meet the required staffing models for safe ambulance services," Gold Cross said. "These expenses will likely result in a 5-year revenue deficit of over $3,000,000."

The Kaukauna Fire Department is the only other agency in the Fox Cities to provide ambulance service. Green Bay, Ashwaubenon, De Pere, Howard, Oshkosh and Fond du Lac also provide ambulance service.

How many additional firefighters will be hired?

The Grand Chute Town Board last week unanimously approved an implementation plan for ambulance service. It calls for hiring six additional firefighters/paramedics in October so they can be trained before the Jan. 1 implementation.

The plan also calls for purchasing three ambulances: one new ($280,000) and one used ($100,000) to serve as the primary response units and another used ($50,000) to serve as a reserve unit.

Once the new hires are in place, 27 of the department's 36 line firefighters will be certified as paramedics and nine will be certified as emergency medical technicians.

"This is enough to staff every ambulance with two paramedics while having no less than one paramedic on every other apparatus to provide the optimal level of care at any occasion," the town said in its implementation plan.

The 2024 startup costs for the ambulances and new hires total $676,712. The money will come from cash reserves or borrowing proceeds until Grand Chute can begin to recover the costs by billing patients for services.

Is Grand Chute dissatisfied with Gold Cross?

Romenesko said he hasn't received any complaints about Gold Cross's quality of service or response times from Denzien since Denzien became fire chief at the start of 2023.

"I really don't know the genesis of the decision to pursue ambulance service," Romenesko said.

Neither Denzien nor Downey expressed dissatisfaction with the service provided by Gold Cross.

"We're looking at expanding our protection because not only are we going to have paramedics, which Gold Cross offers, but ours will be firefighters, so they can respond to all hazards, not just EMS (emergency medical services)," Denizen said.

Denzien praised the Town Board for taking a proactive approach to public safety and assuming accountability for patient treatment and transport.

No local control or accountability currently exists, he said, because Grand Chute doesn't have a contract with Gold Cross.

"They respond through 911 dispatch right now, and we really have nothing to say about who shows up or how or anything like that," Denzien said. "We're looking at having more control over the quality and who responds and things like that."

Contact Duke Behnke at 920-993-7176 or dbehnke@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DukeBehnke.

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Grand Chute Fire Department to launch ambulance service in 2025