New EMS provider named, Pro-Medic out

By MICHAEL RODRIGUEZ

Pro-Medic pic

The San Benito City Commission opted to go with the ambulance providers Med-Care of McAllen. Pro-Medic EMS previously served the city and was recently under fire for allegedly slow ambulance response times. Shown is Romeo Aranjon of Pro-Medic during a city commission meeting, in which such matters were addressed, in April of this year. (File photo)

The San Benito City Commission approved the recommendation of a committee specifically appointed to weigh in on the selection of a new ambulance provider.

At Tuesday’s regular city commission meeting, commissioners unanimously voted to contract with Med-Care EMS of McAllen, as recommended by the committee, at no cost to the city for a three-month evaluation period. Place 4 City Commissioner Celeste Zepeda Sanchez made the motion and was seconded by Plc. 1 Commissioner Antonio Gonzales.

The decision ends four years of service provided by Pro-Medic EMS, a San Juan-based emergency services provider that in 2010 was serving San Benito for $4,000 a month. Commissioners said this was necessary as Pro-Medic’s contract expired earlier this year.

For more on this story, pick up a copy of the Dec. 15 edition of the San Benito News. Or view our E-Edition by clicking here.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.sbnewspaper.com/2010/12/14/new-ems-provider-named-pro-medic-out/

8 comments

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    • Romeo Aranjon Jr on December 16, 2010 at 10:45 pm
    • Reply

    Hello, my name is Romeo Aranjon Jr. I am the medic pictured above, when I had hair (some hair). I was there at the city meeting and I was explaining how Pro Medic employees did hold current CPR certifications and were certified by the state through TDSHS.
    I would like to thank the medics who had been working in San Benito for the past 4 years, some of who had worked there before with South Star EMS and many of who had even worked in the city with STEC (Harlingen EMS) way back when they had the contract. I would like to thank them for the great job they did day in and day out. 24 hours a day, thousands of calls overall, lives saved and people’s every day life impacted.
    There were some problems, it’s EMS it isn’t Mary Kay, but all EMS have problems. Private services, city entities and those that are somewhere in-between. The boots on the ground, the “soldiers” of EMS if you will, deserve our respect no matter what uniform they happen to be using.
    I have family in San Benito, Harlingen, Mercedes and Weslaco and I know that a good medic is a good medic no matter who signs the check. We had some Great medics in San Benito as there are throughout the Valley and I sincerely hope that when the next medic shows up in your hour of need they are great too.

    Romeo

    • Medic on December 16, 2010 at 6:21 pm
    • Reply

    Running a 911 service costs money. Ur city doesn’t want to pay. Hence the local provider will look into a way of creating a form of income since most of the people don’t have private insurance and can’t afford to pay out of pocket. Usually by doing non emergency transfers which in turn ties up the ambulances creating delays if
    911 calls arise. Simple as that. Pro Medic and its employees are not at fault. And I assure you that Med Care will do the same. Just a matter of time. Its the nature of 911 EMS. Just think about it, why can THE CITY run their own PD and FD but won’t have their own EMS? They would lose too much money. So how is it ok for a Private Service to take a loss when Ur Own City won’t? Anyways best of luck to San Benito.

    • medic13 on December 16, 2010 at 4:57 pm
    • Reply

    go medic 13…wooooohoooooo..med care 🙂 your in good hands s.b…

  1. A lot of us know the area like the back of our hand. Slow response times are not the fault of medics but by the company pulling those trucks out of town. It is not fair to those medics to be looked down upon. Med care is a good ambulance service. Don’t get me wrong. Unfair to have a list of people on a \do not hire\ list for the ems service serving san benito. Proposed by san benito.

      • Romeo Aranjon Jr on December 16, 2010 at 10:50 pm
      • Reply

      I agree with you Local Medic, the individual medics should not be held responsible for things that may or may not have been done on the company’s behalf. I do not know if there is a list of medics that are being told they cannot be hired by the new company as part of the contract with the City of San Benito, but I sincerely hope that it is not the case. A lot of you were great medics.

    • Romeo Flores on December 16, 2010 at 4:29 pm
    • Reply

    I hope the city of San Benito beifits as mush as they did with thier previous provider.

    • Luis Ornelas on December 15, 2010 at 7:52 pm
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    Saw an ambulance of Med-Care at Whataburger on Wednsday night. Friendly crew took the time to show us the ambulance. Very impressed with the new truck and equipment they had.I was also pleased to know that they were local paramedics and impressed how well they knew the area. Proud to be a San Benito Resident. Thank you City Commisioners. I just hope they keep good trucks and good people like my wife and I met.

  2. great move commissioners…hope it works out…keep up the good work

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