MetroCare – the only for-profit ambulance company in the 911 system – has lost a lucrative 911 contract with Brookdale Hospital, The Post has learned.
“The contract is canceled. We have to give them 30 days, but they have been informed,” said an administrator at the private Brooklyn hospital, which serves East Flatbush, Brownsville and East New York.
The blow to MetroCare was hand delivered in a one-line letter from the hospital’s senior vice president of legal affairs, Margo Johnson.
Brookdale President Frank Maddalena, who negotiated the contract, was recently replaced by Alvin Khan.
“We are going to do everything in our power to stop it,” said MetroCare Vice President Phil Crimaldi. “We will do everything in our power to persuade him that this is in the best interest of the people of East New York.”
Crimaldi plans to meet with Khan today.
MetroCare has been under severe criticism by the union representing Emergency Medical Service workers, which claims its employees are not adequately trained and are not subject to criminal background checks.
Critics charge that admitting a for-profit company into the system is the beginning of privatization of 911.
Stephen Zakheim – head of MetroCare – has called the union’s campaign against his company disgraceful.
“He [Khan] buckled under pressure from the union,” said another official at MetroCare.
“The union may have won this battle, but they have not won the war. The numbers show that people in East New York can now get to the hospital in under two minutes.”
The EMS paramedics union said in a statement: “We have always believed that professional EMTs and paramedics are best suited to provide emergency care throughout New York City.”