Fly car concept: Will it fly?
CHENANGO COUNTY – There is no easy answer to the county’s ambulance shortage, one long-time volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician says.
“It’s going to take some creativity,” said Glenn Degear, a 32-year volunteer with the Preston Fire Department. “But it’s great that the county is looking at the situation and giving it attention.”
Last Tuesday, in response to the announcement that Superior Ambulance – a private company that handled the bulk of emergency calls in a number of rural townships – would no longer be serving Chenango County after Oct. 25, county Fire Coordinator Matt Beckwith suggested the Board of Supervisors consider implementing a “fly car” system that would add manpower to struggling volunteer emergency medical squads.
“This is a very good starting block toward solving the EMS crisis,” Beckwith said. “There are a lot of logistics left to be worked out. But the question is: Right now, how do we provide the best possible care for the people who are hurt out there in their homes or lying in the street? Right now, this is the best it’s going to get.”
The fly car
Under Beckwith’s plan, three county-employed paramedics would drive two “fly cars” – sport utility vehicles – to emergency calls throughout the county and staff volunteer ambulances on the scene.
The fly cars would run 60 hours a week from two strategic posts in the northern and southern halves of the county. The program is estimated to cost $273,160 annually.
The plan would supplement and re-activate several local EMS squads that are struggling, Beckwith said, because the shortage isn’t necessarily due to a lack of ambulances or drivers, but a lack of state-certified volunteer paramedics to work on patients in the rigs departments already have.
“That’s where we have our greatest need,” he said Tuesday.
Instead of not taking calls for a lack of EMTs, departments, like the one in McDonough, would be able to put their ambulances back in-service using their own drivers and county paramedics.
“For the majority of calls we have during the week, we can find volunteers to drive the ambulances,” Beckwith said. “Finding drivers isn’t the problem. It’s the paramedics that’s hard.”
If approved, the specifics of the fly car plan as proposed may change. But Beckwith expects it will be the long-term county solution.
“If the board accepts it, I don’t expect this to be gone in six months to a year,” he said. “We will continually re-evaluate it as we go. But if we’re serving the need, then we’re serving the need. That’s what matters most.”
From Degear’s perspective, it’s going to take more than a fly car to solve the ambulance problem.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” Degear said. “I’m not sure fly cars alone will replace the loss of three ambulances. It will probably take a few different solutions.”
He believes it will likely take another private service to come in, or a combination of private and county-funded services, to ultimately solve the problem and supplement.
Beckwith says he is continuing talks with private ambulance providers to handle mental health and hospital-to-hospital transports between Binghamton and Norwich, but claims it’s unlikely another company will take Superior’s place full time.
“There just simply isn’t the call volume here to make it profitable,” he said. “Superior couldn’t make money here. Other companies looked at coming in, but decided it wouldn’t be the right move. As far as the county running full-time ambulances, if no one else will come here because they can’t make money, what makes people think it’s economical for the county?”
Beckwith said Superior representatives had been offering to sell the company’s “certificate of need” from the state Department of Health to another private provider for $300,000.
Superior spokesman Ken Rounds had “no comment” Friday.
The company first announced plans to scale back its operation locally in January, citing a lack of profitable business.
Norwich town Supervisor Dave Law said the idea sounds plausible, but he’s concerned that it would double-tax residents who already pay for fire service.
“I think the fly car would work,” he said. “But I would like to know how this county cost will impact the people in the Town of Norwich who pay the City of Norwich for fire and ambulance protection.”
Residents in Guilford, North Norwich and the City of Norwich also pay taxes for fire and ambulance protection (from the city).
Volunteer shortage
Nationwide, volunteers in the fire and emergency services are down 8 percent from 20 years ago, according to the National Volunteer Fire Council.
Increased requirements, time constraints, work constraints, family responsibilities, relocation of younger generations outside their home communities and financial difficulties have all played a role in the decline, says fire council spokeswoman Kimberly Ettinger.
While the volunteer population has faltered over the past two decades, the number of emergency calls has more than doubled – from 11,890,000 in 1986 to 23,251,000 in 2005.
“With the decrease in volunteers and the increase in calls,” Ettinger said, “it has been a challenge for local departments.”
The challenge is expected to get bigger with the loss of Binghamton-based Superior, which took over 2,000 calls in the county – mostly in outlying townships – annually.
A local perspective
In Preston, which doesn’t have an ambulance, Superior and other EMS providers, usually from the City of Norwich or Oxford, have been part of a system that has been efficient, at least from a volunteers stand-point, assistant chief Glenn Degear said.
“In our department, volunteers have been best utilized as first responders providing the initial care,” he said. “When we get called, we get to the scene first and initiate care, same as the ambulance does. When Superior or Norwich gets there, they take over. We brief them on the situation and help in any way we can. Then they load up and go, and we go home. In all, it probably took us an hour or two.”
There are 18 volunteer departments in Chenango County. Only eight have working ambulances. The City of Norwich has the only paid – non-volunteer – service. What’s more, in all departments, the level of training and certification varies as old members leave and new members come in. So, while they may have the equipment, some volunteer stations aren’t state approved – and don’t have the time or money to get approved – to provide higher levels of emergency service.
Numbers on local volunteer demographics from the county Bureau of Fire are not currently available.
Volunteer EMTs aren’t lacking because they don’t want to help others, Degear says, explaining that most volunteers have no reservations about leaving home in the middle of the night on a call for four or five hours to drive or ride in ambulances. But Degear, a third-generation volunteer, also admits those hours away can be frustrating, considering many 911 calls are not true “emergencies.”
“There’s a good percentage of calls where the ambulance is just a glorified taxi service to the hospital,” he said. “Abuse of the system – that hurts us all. It takes a toll on volunteers. But for private or paid services, they’re better suited because they are getting money.”
Otselic Supervisor David Messineo believes volunteers would be less apt to burn out if they were given more incentives.
“It’s getting harder to find people that want to dedicate their time and money to saving lives when they continually get called out at 3 a.m. for a sore toe,” he said at the board meeting Tuesday. “They can’t do it for nothing.”
Messineo asked the Board of Supervisors to examine legislation that would provide property tax breaks for volunteers.
In Oneida County, after five years of service volunteers are eligible for a 10 percent property tax credit of up to $3,000.
“Would something like that help boost volunteerism?” Degear asked rhetorically, referring to tax breaks. “It might.”
The Preston Department is “lucky” to have a good core of members, Degear’s wife Connie said, with 20 to 25 that are active out of 36. Most, like Degear, come from families that have had strong ties to the department throughout the years. However, he said the average age of Preston’s volunteers is “mature,” with only three or four members under the age of 35.
He admits that during work hours, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, it is a challenge finding Preston volunteers who are available.
Other solutions
To off-set the decline, Degear says volunteer departments have been working on ways to be more efficient with the numbers they do have. For instance, he explained that Guilford, Oxford and Preston have been in talks since February discussing different ways the three departments could pool their resources.
In the long-term, combined with other solutions, Degear said it may be beneficial for towns or volunteer fire districts to consider creating a combined ambulance corps, separate from the fire departments. The corps would cover a wide area, and be able to re-coup more equipment costs, he explained. As it stands, volunteer fire ambulances cannot bill customers, according to Degear.
“It’s going to take some creativity,” said Glenn Degear, a 32-year volunteer with the Preston Fire Department. “But it’s great that the county is looking at the situation and giving it attention.”
Last Tuesday, in response to the announcement that Superior Ambulance – a private company that handled the bulk of emergency calls in a number of rural townships – would no longer be serving Chenango County after Oct. 25, county Fire Coordinator Matt Beckwith suggested the Board of Supervisors consider implementing a “fly car” system that would add manpower to struggling volunteer emergency medical squads.
“This is a very good starting block toward solving the EMS crisis,” Beckwith said. “There are a lot of logistics left to be worked out. But the question is: Right now, how do we provide the best possible care for the people who are hurt out there in their homes or lying in the street? Right now, this is the best it’s going to get.”
The fly car
Under Beckwith’s plan, three county-employed paramedics would drive two “fly cars” – sport utility vehicles – to emergency calls throughout the county and staff volunteer ambulances on the scene.
The fly cars would run 60 hours a week from two strategic posts in the northern and southern halves of the county. The program is estimated to cost $273,160 annually.
The plan would supplement and re-activate several local EMS squads that are struggling, Beckwith said, because the shortage isn’t necessarily due to a lack of ambulances or drivers, but a lack of state-certified volunteer paramedics to work on patients in the rigs departments already have.
“That’s where we have our greatest need,” he said Tuesday.
Instead of not taking calls for a lack of EMTs, departments, like the one in McDonough, would be able to put their ambulances back in-service using their own drivers and county paramedics.
“For the majority of calls we have during the week, we can find volunteers to drive the ambulances,” Beckwith said. “Finding drivers isn’t the problem. It’s the paramedics that’s hard.”
If approved, the specifics of the fly car plan as proposed may change. But Beckwith expects it will be the long-term county solution.
“If the board accepts it, I don’t expect this to be gone in six months to a year,” he said. “We will continually re-evaluate it as we go. But if we’re serving the need, then we’re serving the need. That’s what matters most.”
From Degear’s perspective, it’s going to take more than a fly car to solve the ambulance problem.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” Degear said. “I’m not sure fly cars alone will replace the loss of three ambulances. It will probably take a few different solutions.”
He believes it will likely take another private service to come in, or a combination of private and county-funded services, to ultimately solve the problem and supplement.
Beckwith says he is continuing talks with private ambulance providers to handle mental health and hospital-to-hospital transports between Binghamton and Norwich, but claims it’s unlikely another company will take Superior’s place full time.
“There just simply isn’t the call volume here to make it profitable,” he said. “Superior couldn’t make money here. Other companies looked at coming in, but decided it wouldn’t be the right move. As far as the county running full-time ambulances, if no one else will come here because they can’t make money, what makes people think it’s economical for the county?”
Beckwith said Superior representatives had been offering to sell the company’s “certificate of need” from the state Department of Health to another private provider for $300,000.
Superior spokesman Ken Rounds had “no comment” Friday.
The company first announced plans to scale back its operation locally in January, citing a lack of profitable business.
Norwich town Supervisor Dave Law said the idea sounds plausible, but he’s concerned that it would double-tax residents who already pay for fire service.
“I think the fly car would work,” he said. “But I would like to know how this county cost will impact the people in the Town of Norwich who pay the City of Norwich for fire and ambulance protection.”
Residents in Guilford, North Norwich and the City of Norwich also pay taxes for fire and ambulance protection (from the city).
Volunteer shortage
Nationwide, volunteers in the fire and emergency services are down 8 percent from 20 years ago, according to the National Volunteer Fire Council.
Increased requirements, time constraints, work constraints, family responsibilities, relocation of younger generations outside their home communities and financial difficulties have all played a role in the decline, says fire council spokeswoman Kimberly Ettinger.
While the volunteer population has faltered over the past two decades, the number of emergency calls has more than doubled – from 11,890,000 in 1986 to 23,251,000 in 2005.
“With the decrease in volunteers and the increase in calls,” Ettinger said, “it has been a challenge for local departments.”
The challenge is expected to get bigger with the loss of Binghamton-based Superior, which took over 2,000 calls in the county – mostly in outlying townships – annually.
A local perspective
In Preston, which doesn’t have an ambulance, Superior and other EMS providers, usually from the City of Norwich or Oxford, have been part of a system that has been efficient, at least from a volunteers stand-point, assistant chief Glenn Degear said.
“In our department, volunteers have been best utilized as first responders providing the initial care,” he said. “When we get called, we get to the scene first and initiate care, same as the ambulance does. When Superior or Norwich gets there, they take over. We brief them on the situation and help in any way we can. Then they load up and go, and we go home. In all, it probably took us an hour or two.”
There are 18 volunteer departments in Chenango County. Only eight have working ambulances. The City of Norwich has the only paid – non-volunteer – service. What’s more, in all departments, the level of training and certification varies as old members leave and new members come in. So, while they may have the equipment, some volunteer stations aren’t state approved – and don’t have the time or money to get approved – to provide higher levels of emergency service.
Numbers on local volunteer demographics from the county Bureau of Fire are not currently available.
Volunteer EMTs aren’t lacking because they don’t want to help others, Degear says, explaining that most volunteers have no reservations about leaving home in the middle of the night on a call for four or five hours to drive or ride in ambulances. But Degear, a third-generation volunteer, also admits those hours away can be frustrating, considering many 911 calls are not true “emergencies.”
“There’s a good percentage of calls where the ambulance is just a glorified taxi service to the hospital,” he said. “Abuse of the system – that hurts us all. It takes a toll on volunteers. But for private or paid services, they’re better suited because they are getting money.”
Otselic Supervisor David Messineo believes volunteers would be less apt to burn out if they were given more incentives.
“It’s getting harder to find people that want to dedicate their time and money to saving lives when they continually get called out at 3 a.m. for a sore toe,” he said at the board meeting Tuesday. “They can’t do it for nothing.”
Messineo asked the Board of Supervisors to examine legislation that would provide property tax breaks for volunteers.
In Oneida County, after five years of service volunteers are eligible for a 10 percent property tax credit of up to $3,000.
“Would something like that help boost volunteerism?” Degear asked rhetorically, referring to tax breaks. “It might.”
The Preston Department is “lucky” to have a good core of members, Degear’s wife Connie said, with 20 to 25 that are active out of 36. Most, like Degear, come from families that have had strong ties to the department throughout the years. However, he said the average age of Preston’s volunteers is “mature,” with only three or four members under the age of 35.
He admits that during work hours, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, it is a challenge finding Preston volunteers who are available.
Other solutions
To off-set the decline, Degear says volunteer departments have been working on ways to be more efficient with the numbers they do have. For instance, he explained that Guilford, Oxford and Preston have been in talks since February discussing different ways the three departments could pool their resources.
In the long-term, combined with other solutions, Degear said it may be beneficial for towns or volunteer fire districts to consider creating a combined ambulance corps, separate from the fire departments. The corps would cover a wide area, and be able to re-coup more equipment costs, he explained. As it stands, volunteer fire ambulances cannot bill customers, according to Degear.
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