South Windsor Ambulance Corps Announces Upgrade to Paramedic Service, But Questions Abound

In a surprise move, the South WIndsor Ambulance Corps voted on Wednesday evening to upgrade its ambulance service to the paramedic level.

The upgrade, which has been fast-tracked, will take between 120 and 180 days, according to Bob Holdsworth of The Holdsworth Group, a national EMS consulting firm based in Cromwell, which examined the SWAC’s entire operation and made recommendations to enhance its services to the Town and the residents of South Windsor.

The level of service the town receives from its ambulance provider has been a hot-button issue dating back to 2004, when the SWAC switched from a volunteer organization to a for-pay entity.

SWAC offers basic life support - or EMT - service. Several times throughout the years, South Windsor officials like Town Councilor Keith Yagaloff asked what it would take for SWAC to upgrade its service to advanced life support - or paramedic - service.

Each time the issue was brought up, SWAC representatives responded that the move would be cost prohibitive. Most recently, SWAC President Larry Gorman said in March 2012 that it would cost between $500,000 and $700,000 to upgrade its ambulance service from basic to advanced life support.

Bringing the issue back into focus

But the issue came back into sharp focus with the death of Hannah Patrie, a 15-year-old girl who collapsed at South Windsor High School during a conditioning exercise at a dance camp in June 2012. Patrie lost consciousness and died.

One of the questions surrounding Patrie’s death was the response time of the town’s first responders. An Aetna ambulance that is part of the Ambulance Service of Manchester eventually brought Patrie to the hospital about an hour after the initial call came in. (While Patrie wasn’t transported to the hospital for that amount of time, she was at least being treated by emergency personnel during that period.)

Response time, highlighted by Patrie’s death, as well as the lack of advanced life support have caused the town to step up efforts to upgrade the town’s ambulance service, including putting together an RFP for advance life support service and lobbying the state legislature to change the law concerning how a municipality may change ambulance providers.

In a telephone interview Wednesday, Holdsworth said that the upgrade to the paramedic level will require the purchase or lease of $80,000 in equipment. But Holdsworth said that the current reimbursement regulations and payment structure means that SWAC should “break even,” the costs of the upgrade notwithstanding.

The town could, however, be approached for funding later, once the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) kicks in, Holdsworth said.

Obtaining the equipment, hiring paramedics to be on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and getting state approvals for the upgrade should take between four and six months, Holdsworth said.

“They’re doing the right thing,” Holdsworth said.

“I’ve never been opposed to going paramedic, I was concerned about the finances of such a move,” Gorman said in a prepared statement.

Too little, too late?

But the move by SWAC may be a case of too little, too late. And town officials have responded to the announcement in, at best, measured tones.

Yagaloff said that he was concerned that the move was done to block the town from switching ambulance providers.

Currently, according to Yagaloff, state law offers two Primary Service Area Responder licenses to ambulance providers for coverage areas (municipalities). One license is for basic life support, the other is for advanced life support.

In nearly all cases, the same ambulance provider will have both licenses, Yagaloff said, because it does not make economic sense to have the advanced PSAR license without the basic PSAR license.

No ambulance provider has the ALS PSAR in South Windsor, Yagaloff said, because SWAC has the basic life support PSAR and, therefore, another ambulance company cannot make enough money off just the ALS service in town.

Yagaloff said that he believes the latest development regarding SWAC could either be a maneuver to prevent another ambulance company from bidding on the ALS service pursuant to the RFP or from the town switching ambulance services altogether.

“[SWAC upgrading to advance life support] could be the greatest thing, or this could be a simple strategy from them to prevent the town from filling an open position,” Yagaloff said.

What gives Yagaloff pause is that SWAC did not announce changes to its board of directors, but did say it plans to review its organization and operations structure.

“I would have expected [an announced] reorganization and a recommitment to the community,” Yagaloff said. “Then we’d know we’re sort of working together.”

Additionally, Yagaloff said that SWAC should have provided the town with a copy of the study done by the The Holdsworth Group.

“That’s what the town needs to know,” Yagaloff said.

Questions abound

Town Manager Matthew Galligan said that, while the announced upgrade could be positive, the town still plans to proceed with the RFP process.

“If it’s a great program, then we’ll let them bid like everybody else,” said Galligan, who questioned the timing of the announcement. “Why wasn’t it done before this?”

Galligan, too, questioned why he did not receive a copy of the consultant’s report.

“As the person responsible for the safety and well-being of the community, I’d like a copy of the report,” Galligan said. “I’m a bit annoyed they didn’t share the report with the town manager.”

Galligan also asked whether SWAC was committed to the community, considering it has not entered into a lease with the town for the space it occupies at Fire Station 3, as well as paying for gas from the town.

“I have a lot of questions,” Galligan said.

So, too, does Mayor Tom Delnicki, who, like other town officials, found out about the upgrade either through a press release or from a reporter.

“This is quite a surprise,” Delnicki said in a telephone interview. “I look forward to seeing what the details are.”

As such, the town appears prepared to move forward with performing its due diligence concerning possibly replacing its main ambulance provider.

Galligan said the RFP will come out shortly and the ambulance service “with the best track record, quality and level of service is what we want for the town of South Windsor.”