|
Article Audio:
|
Gloversville’s closest ambulance station is just outside city limits in the Berkshire hamlet.
And the town of Johnstown location is not close enough for Councilwoman Ellen Anadio.
“There are other ambulances, but if we had one that would make all the difference in the world, I think,” said Anadio.
Gloversville hasn’t had an EMS service within its bounds since the Ambulance Service of Fulton County shuttered in 2019. By the end, the fiscally strained not-for-profit was unable to compensate employees or make insurance payments.
County contractors currently include Johnstown Fire Department, St. Johnsville Area Volunteer Ambulance Corps and Lake Valley EMS — which responds directly to calls in Gloversville, along with Montgomery County and a number of municipalities in eastern Fulton County.
Overall, the largest volume of EMS calls in Fulton County — roughly 2,300 a year — come from Gloversville. City Fire Chief Thomas Groff believes that an in-house ambulance service would potentially free up resources for Lake Valley EMS.
“The need is not just to have an ambulance in the city, but the county and the towns,” said Groff. “They need more ambulance service. You know what I mean?”
For Anadio, bringing the service back inside the county’s most-populated municipality is a logical step. Anadio, who listens to emergency scanners, grew especially concerned after hearing a report of a Lake Valley EMS transport arriving in Gloversville from Amsterdam over Memorial Day weekend.
“This is not right,” she said. “This shouldn’t be happening. We definitely have to address it.”
During public comment at a city meeting earlier this week, Perry Paul, of 47 East Blvd., said that last Wednesday his grandson was having a seizure. In an emotional plea for the city to have an ambulance, Paul noted that the three-year-old was quickly losing oxygen before a transport arrived.
Lake Valley EMS responded to the call within six minutes, 17 seconds before Gloversville Fire Department, according to Fulton County Emergency Management Director Steven Santa Maria. Four other ambulances were available at the time.
“I’m not certain what the issue — if there was even any issue with that, but that’s what I can tell you about that call,” said Santa Maria.
This year, there have been 5,339 EMS calls and 1,157 transports between hospitals. All calls have been taken. The average response time in the county is 8.1 minutes (the national average is seven minutes).
Response times have increased since 2019 when the closure of the Ambulance Service of Fulton County and Johnstown Area Volunteer Ambulance Corps put the county in dire straits.
In 2021, the Board of Supervisors OK’d an ambulance service incentive plan crafted by Santa Maria, which offers providers consistent revenue flow in exchange for full regulatory control.
“While the system is certainly not perfect and does need to be more robust, it’s a vast improvement over where we were not too long ago,” said Santa Maria.
A bevy of EMS agencies across the country have grappled with service issues since the COVID-19 pandemic as a result of staffing shortages. Groups like Lake Valley have boosted wages and offered sign-on bonuses in an effort to reverse the trend.
Gloversville Mayor Vincent DeSantis acknowledged that finding talent remains an obstacle in expanding services.
“It’s one of those things that we’ve got to keep talking about and we’ve got to get it to the point where we can have kind of a well-defined model that everybody can buy into,” said DeSantis.
“It’s very hard to keep these people because it’s not an easy job and there’s a burnout rate,” the Democratic mayor said. “You have to understand why.”
DeSantis has been in talks with Santa Maria for more than a year’s time regarding ambulance coverage. While not yet certain of a solution, he’s convinced any eventual plan will be comprehensive and involve a regionally-based strategy.
“It’s one of those things that we’ve got to keep talking about and we’ve got to get it to the point where we can have kind of a well-defined model that everybody can buy into,” said DeSantis.
Budget talks are currently underway. However, the matter likely won’t be sorted out in this year’s spending plan, according to DeSantis.
Meanwhile, Lake Valley EMS, Johnstown Fire Department and SAVAC are currently undergoing contract negotiations with Fulton County Emergency Management. Each contract is expected to run out by year’s end, but services will continue either way until an agreement is reached.
Under the set of two-year contracts approved by the Board of Supervisors in 2022, Greater Amsterdam Volunteer Ambulance Corps (now-Lake Valley EMS) was provided a maximum funding cap of $292,680, SAVAC $105,500 and Johnstown Fire Department $74,500.
