First of its kind in the State of CA

Valley Center, CA… The Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians and the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians will celebrate the unveiling of the first Inter-Tribal Ambulance Service on Friday, January 8, 2021 at the Rincon Fire Station located at 33485 Valley Center Road in San Diego County.

Inter-tribal Ambulance Service (IAS) is the first of its kind in the State of California where two Tribal Governments have worked together to provide enhanced paramedic level of care and ambulance service as a joint venture. As things progress, benchmarks and evaluations will take into account the ability and the opportunity to expand services to other reservations and areas within the County of San Diego.

“We cannot be more excited to be celebrating our partnership with San Pasqual which will serve and benefit our tribal members and our surrounding communities,” stated Bo Mazzetti, Chairman of the Rincon Tribe. “Having our own ambulance service means faster response times, saving more lives and high quality care for our tribal people and neighbors. This is a win- win for all.”

The Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians and the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians entered into an agreement to establish a jointly owned and operated Advanced Life Support Paramedic Ambulance Service. The two tribes worked together to establish and operate a fully functional Rescue-Ambulance staffed 24/7 with full-time Career Firefighter Paramedics who will provide the highest level of all risk care and service. Staffing with fulltime dual function Firefighters and Firefighter Paramedics enhance the ability to provide high level quality advanced life support measures to those who live, work and play in both communities. Additionally, the unit will be dispatched by the state- of- the-art fire communication center (North Comm JPA) which will have the ability to track and communicate vital information to responders through an advanced Computer Aided Dispatch System and Advanced Vehicle Location Systems.

“This joint venture will allow the tribes to provide dedicated ambulance services to its Tribal Members and reservation residents with increased responsiveness to their emergency and medical needs,” expressed Chairman Steve Cope of the San Pasqual Tribe. “We applaud this action where tribes are working together using their skills and resources for the betterment and increased safety of their people.”

“Having our own advanced life support ambulance allows us better coordination and control over our own assets,” said Chief Ed Hadfield of the Rincon Fire Department. “While we operate with surrounding agencies, providing the highest level of service, coordination and control of our own assets places our communities as a priority.”

The Rincon Fire Department will oversee the day-to-day staffing and operations. Having a rescue ambulance staffed with Firefighter Paramedics dedicated to serving the two communities is critical to advanced care. At no cost to taxpayers, Rincon’s public safety operations respond to emergencies in the neighboring communities, with more than a majority of calls generating outside of the Reservation.

ABOUT THE RINCON TRIBE

The Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians is a sovereign government recognized by the United States of America. The Tribe owns Harrah’s Resort Southern California and uses profits from this and other commercial enterprises to provide government services including police and law enforcement; economic development; healthcare and culture programs; and a tribal court. Rincon’s tribal enterprises are significant contributors to the San Diego County economy through job creation, tax generation, purchase of local products and services and charitable donations.