by Jay Lawson
Dan Rivet addressed the Town of Webb Board on Tuesday, September 8, to request partial funding support for four new paid positions, on behalf of the Old Forge Fire Department and Old Forge Ambulance Corps.
The positions would be for three full-time and one part-time Advanced Life Support (ALS) providers.
This would allow for twenty-four hour a day ALS coverage, seven days a week, every day of the year.
Rivet described the shortage of local ALS providers and the need to incentivize participation through compensation and benefits packages.
The Old Forge Ambulance Corps is willing to create the positions and act as employer.
It would also pay a portion of the costs through insurance reimbursements and other revenue sources.
But the numbers show a $200,000 annual gap that the Ambulance Corps is asking the Town of Webb to offset through financial participation.
“This is extremely important for our community,” Rivet said. “We just don’t have the people [to provide these services].”
And the situation will only get worse, Rivet said.
“Our active EMTs (Emer-gency Medical Technicians) are all over 65 years old. And our Advanced Life Support people have become nearly nonexistent.”
During the busy summer season, Old Forge contracts with Edwards Ambulance to cover the emergency response load.
This puts a paid ALS provider on call locally, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Even so, the need was sufficient to increase Edwards paid participation to full 24 hour coverage for August 2015.
“The night calls had gotten to be too much. One day we did eight calls in a 24-hour period,” Rivet said.
The tiny band of local responders were getting run ragged between their regular jobs and all the emergency response hours they were logging.
“Nobody was getting any sleep,” Rivet said.
Efforts to train new ALS providers have come up short.
“We have local people that are interested,” Rivet said.
The problem is that once they get trained and certified, these folks find their income requirements forcing them to take jobs with commercial ambulance services. They have bills to pay, Rivet said.
“We certainly have local people that are interested in being ALS providers. They would rather work here than out of town. They are good, competent, and experienced. We would still have some coming from other areas; we have a couple guys in Boonville who said they’d like to do some shifts up here,” Rivet said.
But the positions have to include compensation to make it worth their while, according to Rivet.
Members of the Town of Webb Board said they realize the local ALS need is real.
And that they would work to offer appropriate support.
Councilwoman Mary Brophy Moore said a breakdown of costs is needed so the board can have informed discussions during the upcoming budget season.
She would also like to see any revenues that could be applied by the Ambulance Corps.
Rivet said he appreciated the Board’s commitment in helping structure a necessary emergency response force for Old Forge.
“We’ve got those two beautiful ambulances sitting in the firehouse. But if we get a call and we don’t have people to man them, they are just trucks. With their equipment, they are worth over $200,000 each. Without people to man them, they’re useless,” Rivet said.
Councilman J.B. Herron extended thanks to all the paramedics and ALS providers.
“I realize how thin a lot of you have been spread for a long time… thank you for bringing this to us,” he said.
Councilwoman Moore concurred. “I would like to publicly thank all of our volunteers in the Ambulance Corps, as well as our fire service.
They have been doing an outstanding job for all of these years and I appreciate that they are looking out for the best interest of the town in coming to us for our assistance.
I just want to say, ‘Thank you,’” she said.