An Argument For A Tri-Town Ambulance
It amazes me that in both Grafton and Petersburgh there are council people who have never served as volunteers on a Rescue Squad but spread their views and concepts as if they are authorities on the operation of such.
They don’t take into account the time and commitment needed to obtain the necessary qualifications to serve. EMT certification: 160 hours of class, 80 hours of travel, 120 plus hours of home study. Then add to that all the hours of calls running with the squad to be proficient/comfortable to perform the job. The minimum time for a call is two hours but depending on transport or severity it could be four or five hours. As if this is not enough most volunteers are working full time jobs with families and all the responsibilities associated.
Mr. Lewandusky floated a proposal of getting Town employees to volunteer. Sounds wonderful till the highway employee, as an example, is plowing snow or paving roads. This is the reason for the shortage of staff during the daytime hours, people are working mostly out of town.
Mr. Lewandusky also invited experts to a town board meeting to pitch how they could show how to create a paid staff/volunteer squad (for a fee of course). During their presentation it was revealed that in fact the only place they have done this was in their own squad. Further research revealed that in fact their squads’ program wasn’t even starting until this year. Research also showed that their program would provide service to about the same numbers of residents as the Tri-Town proposal. Their squad budget $263,000. The Tri-Town Budget $153,000.
In Petersburgh the status of the squad is much like the last years of the Berlin Squad. Two dedicated EMTs with countless years of service but not available during the day due to their own jobs. Finally they have been given some relief with two Berlin residents joining the squad. Yet even with this assistance figures from a week ago showed 21 calls for Petersburgh with 7 of those that the squad did not get a crew for.
If the three Towns had started the Tri-Town service on January 1st there was a benefit through a shared service agreement of $229,500 for the towns. The Tri-Town proposal was designed to provide coverage during the hardest times to get crews. Monday through Friday from 6 am to 6 pm. It should also be noted that the average response time by Mohawk to our area runs between 35 minutes to an hour. For a recent call in Petersburgh no ALS assistance was available from any agency in Rensselaer County.
It should be noted that both Grafton and Petersburgh Squads are not part of the town governments. They are independent agencies with their own boards. In both cases the towns provide minimal funding unlike the Fire Companies which are funded by their own tax line in the budgets ($100,000 or more) Note the Towns are not required by law to provide EMS unlike Fire Protection which is required.
The only way the EMS volunteer services will survive is if people are dedicated enough to step up and serve their community. Both squads are looking for volunteers so please consider the possibility of serving.
Rob Jaeger
Berlin Town Supervisor