Millerton Rescue Squad: Seeking solutions

It’s no secret that the Millerton Ambulance Squad is in dire need of volunteers. If it isn’t able to increase its manpower soon, by the year 2015 the volunteer-based, no-cost Emergency Management Service (EMS) the town of North East and village of Millerton so rely on will cease to provide daytime coverage weekdays, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.The Town Board received such notification in a letter sent on Oct. 15 by the North East Fire District. It was bad news for town Supervisor John Merwin.“Personally, I want to see the volunteer ambulance squad continue,” Merwin said at a special meeting held on Thursday night, Nov. 21, at the NorthEast-Millerton Library Annex. At the meeting were members of the Town Board, the North East Fire District, the Millerton Fire Company and Rescue Squad and representatives from the county. It was organized as a brainstorming-session for short-term and long-term alternatives to switching to paid service.One issue with converting to paid service is the huge price tag. Compared to volunteer ambulance coverage, paid service could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. According to North East Fire District Commissioner Stephen Valyou, the 2014 budget for the Millerton Rescue Squad amounted to $4,500, which is unchanged from the 2013 budget. That budget line, he said, comes out of the fire district’s 2014 budget of nearly $355,000.Merwin, who led the Nov. 21 meeting, nudged participants to contribute to the conversation.“If we go out into the community and encourage people to step up,” he said, “maybe we can get some short-term help.”“To be honest with you, I don’t know if short-term solutions are going to work,” said EMS County Coordinator 73 Howard Craft. “You need EMTs [Emergency Medical Technicians].”Attracting EMTs, or attracting volunteers to become EMTs, is difficult, largely due to the training and certification requirements. Roughly 220 hours are mandated for basic training and 75 hours required for those needing to refresh their training. “That’s basically why I gave it up after 20 years,” said Fire Commissioner Larry Merwin. “I was sick and tired of having to get recertified.”Supervisor Merwin said in light of such challenges, maybe the fire company could try to entice former EMTs to return to the department, especially if they have any free time during the day.Town Councilman Ralph Fedele asked if there would be any point in asking the state to ease up on its requirements. Merwin said “they’ve been asked.” Others in the audience chuckled, knowing how far such discussions went.The issue of whether an EMT from another town could answer a call, if they happened to work in the town of North East, was raised. The answer, yes, led to the suggestion that businesses be approached to see if they would be willing to have their employees trained as EMTs.“It would be mutually beneficial,” said Merwin.Fedele asked if the town could offer any local tax relief in return. Merwin was unsure. Fire Company President Lennie Morrison said he didn’t think incentive programs made an impact.“We’ve been putting band-aid on top of band-aid,” he said. “I think what we really need to do is form an ambulance district to cut costs and get with other towns — I know Amenia and Pine Plains are in the same boat — and share costs.”Morrison said it might take a year to form the joint district, but added it should be done.“Our squad has finally come to terms because somebody’s going to die because we don’t get an ambulance off the floor,” Morrison said. “Yes, we’re talking about an ambulance now, but the fire side is not far behind.”He added that it’s important to look at the long-term impacts, and repeated that forming an ambulance district “is the way to go.”Merwin, meanwhile, said he “would like to see more effort” to save the existing Rescue Squad. Merwin asked if the fire company could hire its own EMTs, but was told the state does not give the department the power to employ. Another issue, according Fire Commissioner Merwin, is there are not enough calls to balance out the cost of hiring a service. In 2010 there were 195 ambulance calls, in 2011 there were 226, in 2012 there were 201. The annual average of calls is 200; two-thirds are made during the day and one-third during the night.It was asked if the fire district could charge for calls. It cannot.It was asked if the town could hire an EMT and put it on its payroll. Fire Commissioner George Lind said the town has the authority to form the ambulance district, the authority to bill and the authority to hire and pay. Lind said it would cost the town about $80,000, which he said would be “a lot cheaper” than the $200,000 or so it could cost to hire out a rescue squad. “We’ll talk with the other towns,” said Supervisor Merwin. “I know our obligation is to protect and serve. We will do what we have to do if the Town Board is interested in putting volunteers in this community to go where we need to go.“I would like to keep the volunteer ambulance squad going as long as possible,” he added. “But we have to plan for the future.”“I think long term, right off the bat, we’re going to have to research an ambulance district formed by the town and the cost of service for 12-hour days, seven days a week, and in the event of 24 hours a day,” said Lind. “I don’t see the influx of volunteers coming into the fire district, and there have to be EMTs.”All agreed nothing is going to happen overnight.“At least we had this meeting and are going to start moving,” said Morrison. “We’ve got 13-and-a-half months to pull something together.”Resident and former EMT Dave MacMillan spoke from the audience.“We’ve got to get word out,” he said, himself an avid volunteer in the region. “We need volunteers. I though the thing we enjoyed in our community was volunteers. You’re all talking about paid stuff. Let’s get word out.”“If anybody has ideas to throw into it, please contact us,” said Morrison.“We need to get people who work in the area,” said Fire Company member John Eboli. “If an EMT [lives here] but works in Pleasant Valley, that doesn’t help us.”Millerton Fire Chief Jason Watson mentioned the incentive for college students who train and stay active as EMTs or as firefighters. He said their tuitions are paid for in local colleges. “The general public doesn’t know that,” said MacMillan. “Let’s get that information out there.”It was agreed that one of the goals is to disseminate the information discussed at the meeting, another is to make taxpayers aware of how the various options could impact their wallets, and, finally, another goal is to keep working on viable short-term and long-term solutions well before 2015 arrives.