Over the past few weeks, there has been much publicity over the ambulance issue, with many individuals and many organizations offering their opinions. The Student Health Advisory Board, the group charged with addressing student health concerns, determined to investigate this controversy by pursuing input from both sides of the issue.

Specifically, the board heard from Bob Zoldos, Sherri Shields and Ed Willis, advocates of keeping both ambulances, as well as from Craig Millar and Margaret Spear, proponents of a one ambulance service. On Oct. 21, the Student Health Advisory Board voted unanimously to support the move to a one ambulance service.

The most important issue to the board in making this decision was that student safety not be jeopardized. One of the loudest arguements heard against the move to one ambulance is that it would be unable to handle the volume of calls.

During the year 1989-90, the University Ambulance Service responded to a total of 1,238 calls. Of the total number of calls, only 690 involved the University community (students, faculty, staff and visitors to campus), while one ambulance alone handled 901 calls. Thus, the argument that a one ambulance service would not be able to handle the emergency needs of Penn State is unfounded.

Another prominent issue is that of simultaneous calls (both ambulances needed at the same time). During August 1991, there were 21 instances of simultaneous calls, as opposed to the often reported 16. Unfortunately, what has not been clarified is that 17 of the instances occured because one of the ambulances was either doing a non-emergency transport from one facility to another or was staffing a community event. Of the four remaining simultaneous calls, not one involved an emergency situation.

It should be noted that in the past UAS has done a large volume of non-emergency transports, for example, from Centre Community Hospital to Hershey Medical Center -- 317 calls (25% of total calls) in '89-90. Proponents of a two ambulance service argue that retaining two ambulances will allow even more transports to occur.

It is frequently overlooked that while on a transport, the second ambulance is unavailable to respond to a simultaneous call. Therefore, using a second ambulance as it has been used in the past does not consistently provide Penn State with a back-up for emergency calls.

What will happen during simultaneous calls after the switch to one ambulance? As in any other community, the second call will be transferred to the next closest service -- Alpha Ambulance Service at the corner of Beaver and Atherton.

The Student Health Advisory Board voted to support the move to a one ambulance service because it believes that student safety will not be jeopardized. The board urges that a re-evaluation with pre-established criteria occur after six months to ensure that student safety has been maintained.