Vernon ambulance squad weighs in on paid EMS

BY DIANA GOOVAERTS
VERNON — “If it's not broken, don't fix it.” That was the message from a representative of Vernon's two ambulance squads to the Township Council on Monday, Aug. 14.
The comments came during a meeting at which the Council was slated to vote on a measure to shift the municipality to part-time paid emergency medical services. Though the ordinance was taken off the agenda at the last minute, more than 20 EMS volunteers packed the meeting hall in solidarity as 13-year Glenwood Pochuck Ambulance Corps. member and trustee Scott Berge addressed the Council.
Berge said he sought to set the record straight on squad response times and staffing in light of what he called “untruths” spreading on social media.
Despite assertions to the contrary, Berge reported ambulance response times are “the same as they always have been.” Additionally, Berge noted that while daytime shifts from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the week have been hard to cover, squad volunteers have had no problem covering the weekday night and weekend shifts. Saint Clare's has been helping cover day shifts for the past six months under an unpaid agreement with the township.
“These are the truths,” Berge said. “It's not broken.”
But that doesn't mean the current system can't be improved upon.
Berge noted that since Saint Clare's was looped in for daytime coverage, the volunteer crews have stopped being paged out for backup coverage when an extra ambulance and crew is needed. Instead, the calls have been going directly to mutual aid crews in neighboring towns. Berge said the volunteer crews are capable of picking up that slack, but they need to get the calls in the first place.
Vernon Police Chief Randy Mills said the calls have been sent to mutual aid to help improve response times. If a page goes out, dispatch has to wait nearly 15 minutes to see if local volunteers can respond, he explained. If there aren't enough volunteers, Mills said that's 15 minutes wasted that could be used mobilizing a mutual aid squad.
Mills, however, indicated communication between dispatch and the squads can be improved to address the issue.
Berge and others speaking during the public comment portion of the meeting also expressed concerns about the ordinance to establish a Division of Emergency Services that would oversee the proposed paid EMS service.
Resident Richard Carson, who said he was “intimately involved” in developing similar measures for other towns, said the proposed ordinance only contained “about 30 or 40 percent of what would be required to start a paid EMS.” Berge added the measure would do more harm than good and offered to sit down with the Council to hash out a better solution.
“Please let us continue to do what we do best as volunteers,” Berge pleaded. “Any ordinance that is anything close to what was presented at last meeting is only going to cause more problems and cost taxpayers money.”
At the urging of Councilwoman Sandra Ooms and Councilman Patrick Rizzuto, the Council agreed to hold work sessions with squad members and the public before bringing the ordinance up again for a vote.