FIFE, Wash. — Falck Northwest is closing its doors in Washington, which means a key role in medical response in the state will be impacted.
The medical service company announced that it’ll be shutting down its Fife and Mountlake Terrace locations due to economic strains.
Falck NW provides interfacility transports between hospitals, nursing facilities and medical clinics throughout Snohomish, King and Pierce counties.
Mike Battis, president of the Washington State Ambulance Association, said he’s concerned about the hole that will be left behind.
“There’s a huge need for interfacility transports as is, and now we’re losing a big agency that was a key piece of that puzzle,” Battis said.
Battis said that other jurisdictions would have to make up the difference.
“When a service disappears, the need doesn’t disappear with it,” he said. “There’s a bit of robbing Peter to pay Paul type of scenario, because if the surrounding communities around Fife step up to do this, who steps up to serve those surrounding communities now that they’ve left to do the interfacility transport in Fife, and so on.”
According to the state’s Employment Security Department, the shutdown will leave 123 workers without a job starting on Dec. 15.
But Battis said given the staff shortages he’s seen in other medical service agencies, he’s confident that these workers will be able to find a job elsewhere.
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