Falck - or the 900-pound gorilla no one is aware of

[CANMAN]

Lifestar only runs IFT in Maryland, no private company in MD does 911 with the exception of Charlestown, and its not real 911. Lifestar has alot of new units because they just got the Kaiser contract in which they bought 12 new trucks for. They do a decent job of replacing units when due (especially for their contract programs) but have no rotating service schedule for the units they have, which in turn explains why they have to buy new units. Lifestar isn't bad if you can get a deal on one of the contract teams, but I wouldn't do IFT with strictly Lifestar as a career IMO.

Lifestar is expanding, but IMO you can grow too big, and then customer service slips. Thus was the issue with their most recent contract loss of Childrens.

 

[Jon]

Sounds like Falck just needs to buy out AMR and then they would own the world.

Had that discussion today with some work friends.

 

[firecoins]

I was at Lifestar NJ when Falk bought them out. The Faulk guys had visited just before the buy out. Not much changed afterwards.

I left in 2011.

 

[NomadicMedic]

Sorry, forgot to mention, the new england american ambulance branch is also a part of the deal.

Where is the New England branch of American ambulance?

 

[Hunter]

Where is the New England branch of American ambulance?

Began serving the New England market in January 2011. American serves the greater:censored:Boston, Massachusetts:censored:

 

[NomadicMedic]

Interesting. I worked for American Ambulance in CT in the late 80s. They're celebrating their 40th anniversary this month. I'm glad it's not the same American Ambulance.

http://www.americanamb.com/

 

[Uclabruin103]

From what i've read on here and heard in the field, morale at CARE has gone down since they've taken over.

True. This was happening before Falck took over though. We were growing so much and losing that family feel. People getting fired for stupid reasons, management treating us as "just EMTs." One guy even says that straight to our faces. He's such a tool.

If I were Fire I'd be a little nervous about them trying to totally take over, but for all us privates, bring it on.

And our Santa Ana service is just interm while a real contracted company gets chosen. That's why we give them seven units, four 24s and three cover cars and post whenever one unit goes out. The Santa Ana medics are sure in love with their new toy of sending people BLS now that's for sure.

 

[Meursault]

American ambulance based out of south florida had been bought out by falk, it's supposed to be their base of operations for the east coast operations. according to our management

They have a foothold in the Boston area now, but there's not that much room for them to expand without buying out or fighting with other companies.

 

[Tigger]

Where is the New England branch of American ambulance?

As mentioned, mostly in Boston. American is the latest incarnation of the services formally known as (someone correct me if I'm wrong) Samaritan, General, and Mercy Ambulance. These companies were not all that big and since being bought by American (I think Samaritan was the name at time of purchase), the company has grown fairly significantly while also somewhat shedding their reputation as "that ambulance company owned by a group of Russians who may or may not have mob ties." All IFT and 911 backup for Boston right now.

 

[Fisticuffs]

General and Mercy merged. Faced some grave financial troubles, were bought out the name was changed to Samaritan and then bought out by American.

Falk has also Purchased Cape Cod ambulance Here in MA. They bought several new trucks that were being housed at the American garage in Boston for a little while.

Rumor has it that Falk was also trying to purchase several smaller companies in MA.

And i have not been able to find anything to confirm it, but i have heard rumors that they either bought American Ambulance out of CT or were in negotiations to do so.

 

[NomadicMedic]

And i have not been able to find anything to confirm it, but i have heard rumors that they either bought American Ambulance out of CT or were in negotiations to do so.

I asked some friends that still work there... No change in ownership.

 

[Chimpie]

Falck is the largest ambulance company in the world and the third largest in the United States if I am not mistaken. ...

Granted, I haven't had any caffeine this morning, but what?

 

[socalmedic]

Granted, I haven't had any caffeine this morning, but what?

Falck owns the majority of emergency services contracts in north western europe and south america, as in the only non government contractor... they provide fire, ambulance, and tow, along with multiple other services.

http://www.falck.com/Pages/Frontpage.aspx

 

[Anonymous]

Granted, I haven't had any caffeine this morning, but what?

privately owned I should have said.

http://www.jems.com/article/ems-insider/ambulance-companies-change-han

At the first of the year, Falck A/S, Europe’s largest private ambulance services provider, purchased Care Ambulance Service Inc., a provider of ambulance transport and 9-1-1 response services for patients in Southern California’s Los Angeles and Orange counties, where it operates more than 135 ambulances.

Care Ambulance was founded by Carl Richardson as a one-ambulance operation in 1969, and continued to be operated as a family business until its purchase in 2011. Care Ambulance co-owners Dan and Rick Richardson have now joined Falck.

This past April, Falck completed acquisition of LifeStar, also a family-run ambulance transportation business. It was founded in 1975 to serve the residents of Long Island, N.Y. Today, LifeStar operates 440 ambulances and other rescue vehicles, supplying EMS to citizens in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., Alabama, Florida and Georgia.

With this acquisition, Falck becomes the third largest, privately owned ambulance service in the U.S.

As far as the world, after looking into it further it appears EDHI is the largest in the world. Falck is the largest in Europe and the largest private fire fighting service in the world.

 

[Handsome Robb]

Actually when I saw the title I assumed the post was talking about me

Wait...you're bald. I thought gorillas were hairy...

In all seriousness I don't know a whole lot about Falk and it seems like it's mostly on the East Coast. Maybe they are starting East with a goal to work West?

From the sounds of it and what I know of EMS on the East Coast it sounds like they'd almost be better starting west and working east from the private EMS standpoint unless they are only looking to do IFT? There's lots of private 911 companies on the Left Coast but it's pretty well monopolized from what I see and read.

Not sure how it works elsewhere but I know my company, operating under a Public Utility Model, has an automatically renewing contract with no possibility of a takeover unless we fail to meet criteria set by our County. AMR was poking their heads around for a bit but unless something drastically changes there's no way they can take the county contract.

 

[WTEngel]

Falck also provided a large number of "medics" for the SRCA contract in Saudi. All nice guys, some extremely under-qualified though. Falck is becoming quite a juggernaut.

 

[ShannahQuilts]

Granted, I haven't had any caffeine this morning, but what?

That's what I was wondering: how could something be the biggest in the world, but only the 3rd biggest in the US? Are we not part of the world?

Well, okay, i'm in California, and some of us are really out of this world, but seriously, it just doesn't add up.

 

[TransportJockey]

That's what I was wondering: how could something be the biggest in the world, but only the 3rd biggest in the US? Are we not part of the world?

Well, okay, i'm in California, and some of us are really out of this world, but seriously, it just doesn't add up.

Probably means less operations strictly in the US than AMR and R/M (the top two). I know AMR has overseas operations ,but not sure where they stand globally, since EMSC is a rather huge company

 

[Anonymous]

Probably means less operations strictly in the US than AMR and R/M (the top two). I know AMR has overseas operations ,but not sure where they stand globally, since EMSC is a rather huge company

Someone gets it. Made sense in my head lol

 

[DeepFreeze]

I had no idea that Falck also has ties to Wackenhut...the more I research this company the more I can't believe I never heard about it before this thread.