\u201cWe\u2019re happy to come out every time, but you will get a bill,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Related:<\/p>\n
![\"Headshot](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/mike_sova-NEEDS_CROPPED.jpg\")
The threat of fines has reduced nonemergency 911 calls, said Mike Sova, EMS coordinator in Bloomfield Township. (Courtesy) <\/p>\n
In Bloomfield Township, it worked so well that such calls immediately plummeted.<\/p>\n
Sova said he couldn\u2019t recall any facility actually being charged in those years: \u201cIt\u2019s successful just having it in place.\u201d<\/p>\n
An increasing number of US communities<\/a> have started charging for answering 911 calls in recent years, he and others told Bridge. That\u2019s because staff at senior living facilities and nursing homes too often call 911 to request a ride for a resident to a doctor\u2019s appointment or to help a resident who has fallen and isn\u2019t hurt, but needs to be expertly lifted into bed or a wheelchair, he said.<\/p>\n That pulls emergency crews from more urgent calls \u2014 rushing a heart attack victim to the hospital or responding to vehicle accidents, for example. It pulls them, too, from station and vehicle maintenance or training, Westland Fire Chief Darrell Stamper told Bridge.<\/p>\n The southeast Michigan community passed its ordinance<\/a> in June, allowing the fire department to charge facilities $350 for nonemergency transportation and $500 to help lift a resident. It was prompted by the 350-500 calls each year that the fire department responded to at such facilities, Stamper told Bridge.<\/p>\n Since the ordinance went into effect, he said, calls quickly dropped, he said, to \u201c10 to 12 a month\u201d<\/p>\n Sterling Heights can now charge facilities $500 to $800 for calls under a 2023 ordinance<\/a> that specified that such calls are an \u201cinappropriate and unwarranted drain on city resources,\u201d blaming, among other things, a \u201clack of facility staffing, a disinterest by the facility in addressing these needs for their residents.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n A Sterling Heights spokesperson, through an email, said some senior living facilities \u201ccharge above market rates.\u201d Nonemergency calls have dropped by about half since the law<\/a> went into effect.\u00a0<\/p>\n West Bloomfield Township Fire Chief Greg Flynn questions the practice, noting that emergency crews have a duty to safeguard community health and safety, not just respond to emergencies.<\/p>\n If a department decides it exists only to answer emergency calls, it must say \u201cno\u201d to nonemergency requests \u2014 plain and simple, Flynn said. It\u2019s a \u201cslippery slope\u201d to charge some consumers for those calls and not others.<\/p>\n And it\u2019s a matter of fairness. Even if fines are to be paid only by the facility, rather than individuals, those costs ultimately will be sifted into the residents\u2019 rent and other increased costs, said Flynn, who is also chief of the EMS section of the Michigan Association of Fire Chiefs.<\/p>\n If a department takes a different approach, seeing its role of boosting the overall health and safety of its community, it typically will respond to residents in need \u2014 whether they are at home or in a facility, and whether it\u2019s immediately life-threatening or not.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is why we\u2019re here,\u201d he said, speaking for West Bloomfield, \u201cthis is what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s true \u2014 to an extent, said Matt Sahr, president of the Michigan Professional Firefighters.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the tones go off our members go,\u201d he said. But it\u2019s up to the administration to make sure crews are \u201cbeing used appropriately and effectively,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t be effective if we\u2019re stretched too thin,\u201d Sahr said.<\/p>\n We want to hear from you<\/p>\n Bridge Michigan is writing about issues surrounding older residents of a state that\u2019s aging faster than most others.<\/p>\n What are the challenges ahead for you as you age or help care for an aging loved one?<\/p>\n What are the best programs out there?<\/p>\n How has your life changed as you move from career to retirement or family home to assisted living?<\/p>\n Or maybe you\u2019ve got an idea to help bridge the gaps in housing, transportation, health care and other services for older Michiganders. Drop us a line at rerb@bridgemi.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n Thank you to our Michigan Health Watch Sponsors<\/p>\n Michigan Health Watch is made possible by generous financial support from our sponsors.\u00a0Please visit the\u00a0About<\/a>\u00a0page for more information and to subscribe to Michigan Health Watch. Interested in becoming a sponsor?\u00a0Contact Emma Carr<\/a>.<\/p>\n Republish This Story<\/p>\n![\"At](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/10172025_westlandfirestation_BG-9.jpg\")
Some worry that responding to nonemergency calls keeps firefighters away from routine maintenance and training. Here, gear lines the walls beneath a sign honoring firefighters who\u2019ve served the Westland Fire Department. (Brayan Gutierrez for Bridge Michigan)<\/p>\n
![\"Creative](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1754973788_72_cc-by-nd-4.0.png\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Michigan\u2019s long-term care facilities, including nursing homes, have for years relied on 911 to help them pick some…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[189135,97,252,253,189136],"class_list":{"0":"post-395375","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-aging-in-michigan-2025","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-health-care","11":"tag-healthcare","12":"tag-michigan-nursing-homes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}