Prospect Medical Holdings, owner of Crozer Health, has been unable to pay for repairs to its aging fleet of ambulances, writes Kenny Cooper for WHYY.

With Crozer ambulances covering about 70 percent of Delaware County, paramedics, and EMTs say patient care could be affected.

Kate Denney, a Crozer EMS paramedic, said the local vendor who had worked on the ambulances is owed over $120,000 and has put a hold on any future work on the vehicles.

“So we don’t have any backups because we have several vehicles sitting waiting to be worked on,” she said. “If those backups fail, then we have to put units in certain parts of the community out of service, which means that can delay patient care.”

Five ambulances and two chase cars are in the mechanic’s lot now waiting to be fixed, she said.

A Crozer spokesperson said ambulance fleet repairs are ongoing and that most would be returned to service over the course of two weeks.

Prospect underwent a corporate-level refinancing recently and has a new mortgage on the hospital properties from Medical Properties Trust. That brings more financial stability and liquidity to Prospect’s finances, according to the spokesman.

Read more about Crozer Health and its inability to pay for ambulance repairs at WHYY.

A doctor shadows a flight paramedic.