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'Ambulets' draw pleas for some regulation By DANI DODGE In February, a non-emergency transport service took a woman from the hospital to a Medford foster care home. The dying woman wanted to spend her last days in the place she called home. But the final leg of the trip wasn't anything a dying woman would order. To get her to her bedroom, the men from a company called New Alternatives put the 300-pound woman on a sheet, grabbed the corners, and carried her through the house -- even though she had a broken shoulder. Despite sedation, she cried out in pain. "I stood there horrified," Shirley Dempsey, the foster home owner, told county commissioners Wednesday. "I was traumatized just as the patient was. If those people transporting had proper equipment and proper training, these traumas wouldn't happen." On Wednesday, about half a dozen people spoke to the commissioners about problems with companies that transport patients in non-emergency cases. The companies are sometimes referred to as ambulets, although they aren't ambulances. They don't necessarily have medical equipment and their drivers don't necessarily have medical training. But they do transport people who are incapacitated in some way -- serving as a taxi service for the not-so-able-bodied. Unlike ambulances, the companies aren't regulated by the county -- and cost a whole lot less than a basic $600 ambulance ride. A lift in an ambulet can cost less than $100. Yet sometimes the ambulets take patients who need qualified medical personnel. Jackson County commissioners said the issue needs to be studied and changes considered. The Medford City Council also will consider the issue at its noon study session today. "The idea is to solve the problem systemwide," said Gary Stevens, program manager for the county's environmental health department. Last summer, a 93-year-old stroke victim died en route to the hospital with MobileCare Inc., Stevens said. Steve Chapman, the owner of MobileCare Inc., said he learned his lesson from the incident. He no longer drives people with symptoms of stroke or heart attack, but instead calls for an ambulance. "Our concern is some ill patients are being transported incorrectly," said Dr. Paul Rostykus, who supervises emergency medical technicians for the county. "We've reviewed many cases of patients who got worse during transport." Stevens suggested that better defining patients and ambulances in the county code would be a good first step to make sure ill people are safely transported. One ambulet provider, Mike Flores of Net Care, says ambulets should be regulated. "The solution is we need an ordinance to protect the elderly, frail and sick in this community," Flores said. But Sherrin Coleman, the general manager of the Rogue Valley Transportation District, said it's important that transportation companies aren't regulated out of business, because they provide a valuable service. County commissioner Ric Holt told the those involved to work on ordinance language they think may solve the problems. Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA