Wilmington’s St. Francis Hospital EMS was the low bidder last week for a contract with Dover. The proposed deal would cost the city $100,000 each year for the next three years.
The hospital is offering two full-time Basic Life Support units manned by two EMTs with the potential for a third vehicle as needed.
The city’s current contract with Prime Care is for one full time vehicle and one on call—each vehicle manned by one EMT and one driver. Prime Care was among three EMS services outbid by St. Francis Tuesday.
“We felt to provide better service in our RFP that we needed to have two EMTs and two fully dedicated EMS units 24-7-365 to provide the best service to the city,” said Dover Mayor Robin Christiansen.
“We have an aging population,” said Christiansen. “Our population at night is 38,500 people. It swells to over 80,000 counting the people who come here to shop, who go to school here, who pass through the city of Dover.”
Dover’s City Council will vote on the new contract at its next meeting Jan 14. If approved, the contract starts April 1st.