Andra Atteberry

Staff Writer n andraa@nwanews.com

Moving the Bella Vista Ambulance Service's headquarters to a building behind the Village Shopping Center was a bargain, made things easier for members and potential members and provided the service with more room for file storage.

The service went from an office with 650 square feet to an office with 1,000 square feet for the same amount of rent.

Members will like the easy parking, according to Ann Dahlke, who is in charge of member services. Traffic will be better with less congestion than at the Town Center location. The signage on both ends of the center points people to the new building.

"It's more comfortable," she said. "It's more homey and personable." Her new desk is just to the left as people enter the building. The old office had a counter so Ann had to stand to talk to them or shout across her desk.

Now, when she talks to members they sit right across from her. She has her computer in front of her so she can enter and check data easily while the members give her information.

The ambulance service needed more room because federal rules require the service to keep records for seven years. If an ambulance call is for a child or infant, the service has to keep records until the child is 18.

"Ten years ago the office handled about 760 calls," Patient Office Coordinator Bridget Blanton said. "This year it will be around 1,540." Dahlke and Blanton can't just weed out the records that are seven years old to get enough space for the new ones. For the 2005 records, they need double the space they had seven years ago.

"No fees were raised," Dahlke said about the cost of moving. The annual ambulance service fee for families is still $40.

Without joining the ambulance service, a person will have to pay about $650 for an ambulance call.

If a person has health insurance, the insurance will probably pay for 80 percent of the call. The person will still owe about $130. A member pays nothing.

The ambulance service depends on membership fees to buy new ambulances, train new EMTs and paramedics, and provide continuing education for all the EMTs and paramedics.

For more information about the Bella Vista Ambulance Service, at 652 W. Lancashire Blvd., call 855-4454.