Ambulance service selects first director

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Reprinted from: Richmond Times Dispatch, March 1, 1991

By Michael Paul Williams

 Richmond Ambulance Services Inc. has chosen the head of the Kansas City, MO., emergency medical system as its first executive director.

 Jerry L. Overton, executive director of the Kansas City Emergency Medical System, was chose from among 35 candidates to run Richmond's fledgling system, Vice Mayor Charles R. Perkins said yesterday.

 Overton was among five finalists reviewed by the ambulance service's board. The finalists included Public Safety Director Kent A. Ryan.

 "We were very fortunate to have [Overton] even apply," said Perkins, who led the services' nine-member board.

 Overton expects to begin his new job in mid-April. His annual salary will be $70,000, a $5,000 increase over his current pay.

 The 41-year-old has been executive director of the Kansas City system since 1988.

 From 1983-1988 he was assistant director of the non-profit system, which is the sole provider of emergency medical services in Kansas City and its suburbs.

 Before that, Overton planned emergency medical services for the Mid-America Regional Council – an organization of localities similar to the Richmond Regional Planning District Commission.

 "I've heard a lot of good things about Richmond," Overton said yesterday during a telephone interview from his Kansas City office.

 He said he was content with his current post in Kansas City, whose ambulance system is similar to Richmond's. But he indicated that he was also ready for a change.

 "To be real frank with you, I've only lived in one city all my life – Kansas City."

 Another attractions for Overton was the Richmond system's nationally recognized medical directors, Dr. Joseph P. Ornato and Dr. Edward M. Racht, both of the Medical College of Virginia Hospitals. "With that caliber of medical expertise working with the system, I know it's going to be a quality system," he said.

 Overton is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Kansas City and has a master's degree in public administration from Central Michigan University.

 Public Safety director Ryan has proposed the elimination of his own department. Overton's selection appears to have reduced his options if City Manager Robert C. Bobb and the City Council agree to drop the department as a cost-saving measure.

 Ryan had no comment yesterday on Overton's selection.

 As for his job, "I have to wait and see what the budget process brings out," he said.

 Eliminating the department, however, would require a change in the city charter and approval by the General Assembly – actions that don't appear possible until next year.

 Richmond Ambulance Services Inc. was created last year when Central Virginia Ambulance Service, a private company, encountered financial difficulties.

 Under legislation approved by this year's General Assembly, pending Gov. L. Douglas Wilder's signature, the system will become an ambulance authority in July.

 That designation will provide the ambulance service with sovereign immunity from lawsuits and considerable insurance savings. It also will allow the system to conduct non-emergency transports across the lines of Henrico and Chesterfield counties.

 Dr. Joseph J. Fitch has served as the Richmond service's interim executive director.

 His firm, Fitch & Associates, was hired as an interim operator. The ambulance service is conducting a nationwide search for a contractor to succeed Fitch and Associates, with selection scheduled for late this month.

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