LARGO, Fla. — Jumping into a Sunstar Paramedics ambulance is second nature to Jeannie Riccardi, who has been a paramedic for 20 years.

What You Need To Know

  • Pinellas County residents can enroll in the 2024 Sunstar FirstCare Ambulance Membership and receive more than a full year of financial help with out-of-pocket expenses for ambulance transportation

  • The estimated average cost of a single ambulance transport is $943

  • Sunstar FirstCare Ambulance Membership is not an insurance plan; it is a Pinellas County Government program that works with an individual's insurance

  • Applications can be found online at www.pinellas.gov/firstcare

“I saw an ambulance when I was 16 years old helping at a car accident, and ever since then I knew it was my vocation, and that is what I wanted to do," Riccardi said. 

On average, Sunstar does 750 transports a day in Pinellas. For 2023, they did more than 197,000. A lot of tough moments, but guess what the people they transport worry about the most?

“A lot of time patients are more concerned with their bill then they are with getting the help they need, even when in crisis," Riccardi said. 

“The two times my mom fell was very unexpected," said Dianne Wood, a St. Pete Resident.

Wood helps care for her mother. In a year span, her mother needed an ambulance four times. The costs added up quick. 

“I ended up paying the bill and didn’t like having to pay the deductible, $200 for each of those four trips," Wood said. 

This year she signed up for the Sunstar FirstCare Ambulance Membership. It is not an insurance plan, but a government program that has been in Pinellas for 20 years.  It works with a person's insurance to minimize out-of-pocket costs connected to transport in an ambulance. 

“Hopefully she won’t fall, hopefully we won’t have any more reasons to have to go to the hospital," Wood said. 

But if they do, she now has peace of mind when it comes to the cost of those trips. 

Riccardi will tell you, in an emergency, there is little time to discuss cost. 

“Time is of the essence in an emergency, and we need to get them to the hospital as quickly as possible and not have to worry about something like a bill," Riccardi said.

The 2024 Sunstar FirstCare annual membership fee is $86 for an individual and $129 for a family membership. 

“If you are getting up in age or if your parents are, so what we find a lot of times is children are taking care of their parents bills, they are helping out. You might be on a severely fixed income," said Karen Peek, Financial Services Training Coordinator, Pinellas County.

Memberships cover 100% of expenses associated with deductibles and co-payments. If you are uninsured, it is a 20% discount on the overall cost of transport. 

To apply go to www.pinellas.gov/firstcare.