I disagree with part of last week’s editorial concerning the paramedic contract in North Riverside (“Issues, what issues?” (The Landmark View, Feb. 13). Specifically, I am disturbed that contracting for garbage collection is equated with contracting for paramedic services.
The latter is a very personal matter and affects an individual far more than the collection of garbage.
When I am selecting a provider of medical services, the cost is one of the last things I consider. Most people feel the same way unless they have serious financial problems. Furthermore, the cost of the present paramedic contract is an insignificant amount for the individual North Riverside resident.
That is so because only about 2.5 percent of each resident’s tax bill goes to the village of North Riverside, and this is due to the fact that North Riverside derives 78 percent of its revenue from sales taxes, which are paid by certain companies like Edward Don and by shoppers at the mall who, to a great extent, do not live in North Riverside.
As for the very important question of how good are our paramedic services, I wish to state that it was necessary for us to call the paramedics about three times over the past 20 years and we were very satisfied with their services. However, in each of those situations, no one’s life was in danger.
Far more persuasive facts about the good quality of North Riverside’s paramedics was contained in the presentation which Fire Chief Ken Rouleau recently made to the village board concerning the competency of our paramedics.
In that presentation, he described the extensive training which they receive and stated that over the past 25 years only four complaints have been made to the village about the paramedics, and none of those complaints was serious.
Therefore, I would like to conclude by simply saying, if it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it.
Frank Spale
North Riverside
