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Beauport gets contract as ambulance backup
As Beauport Ambulance Service, Inc., celebrates its 25 year anniversary, the company will be working more closely with the Gloucester Fire Department.
The Gloucester-based company has been awarded the city contract as first backup to the Gloucester Fire Department — meaning that, when the city's ambulances are busy, Beauport is the first company called in for assistance.
Previously, the contract was for more than a decade by Lyons Ambulance Service, LLC. But the Gloucester Fire Department recently put out a Request for Qualifications looking for companies to put in bids for the spot. Only two companies put in bids — Lyons and Beauport — and Beauport earned the deal, according to Sander Schultz, the EMS coordinator with the Gloucester Fire Department.
John Morris, the owner of Beauport Ambulance said he had worked for years to have the Fire Department consider his services for the top spot on the backup list. After about three years of asking, Schultz decided it would be best to ask for requests from various companies rather than arbitrarily picking one company over another.
Schultz said the proposals had nothing to do with money, but were based on an overall evaluation of about 12 different criteria — including the number of staffed ambulances in Gloucester, dispatch services, clinical capabilities and references.
"The service with a better proposal was Beauport," said Shultz, adding that the contract is for one year with two possible one-year extensions. The backup service contract does not give the company any money from the city, but the firm is paid "for services by a standard billing process," said Schultz.
Morris said that his service also employs about 10 Gloucester firefighters, and he thinks Beauport and the Fire Department will complement each other well.
In 2004, Morris, who grew up in Gloucester and was 19 at the time, purchased Beauport Ambulance from his father, Robert Morris Jr., when the company was just a wheelchair van service and the younger Morris was going to night school to become a EMT.
"My dad said, 'You can buy the business or I'm going to sell it,'" recalls Morris, now 24. "When I bought the company, there were only three employees including myself."
He filed to expand to an ambulance service in October 2005, and has been offering ambulance service ever since. Beauport now employees 49 people, many from Cape Ann.
"By getting this contract, we've been able to add hours and create jobs," said Morris. "It is a big turning point and a step in the right direction."
Shultz said he's happy because having the backup company prepare such a well-thought-out proposal will help keep the current and future backup companies accountable for their services.
He said the Fire Department operates two ambulances and has several other backups besides Beauport.
The tagline for Beauport is "A local service for local people," and the company displays its Gloucester pride on several counts.
The Beauport name stems from explorer Samuel de Champlain's name for the harbor, the Fishermen's Memorial Man at the Wheel statue is a feature of the company's logo, and Morris' office is filled with Gloucester memorabilia.
"We are a local service and we are taking care of our family and friends," said Morris. "To be able to be a vital part of its emergency services means a lot."
Jonathan Phelps can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3447, or via e-mail at gt_reporter@gloucestertimes.com
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