South Windsor Officials Meet with State Over Changing Ambulance Services

Highlighting their concerns about the process, town representatives met with state officials last week to determine how South Windsor can obtain advance life support services from its ambulance provider.

Town Manager Matthew Galligan reported that he, Town Attorney Dwight Johnson, Deputy Mayor Gary Bazzano, and Councillor Keith Yagaloff met with a representatives from the Office of Emergency Medical Services concerning the town changing ambulance providers to receive paramedic - or advance life support -services.

State law currently limits the circumstances in which a municipality may remove its ambulance service.

“We are concerned that municipalities cannot determine their own level of Emergency Medical Services,” Galligan wrote in his report to the council.

Galligan told the council on Monday evening that there is a bill in the state legislature that would enable municipalities to make that determination.

“This one seems to have legs,” Galligan said.

Still, Mayor Tom Delnicki wanted to know when a request for proposal would be sent out for ambulance providers to see what it would cost the town to obtain advance life support services.

Galligan said that the paperwork was being finalized and an RFP would be prepared to go out by no later than the end of the month.

The town’s current ambulance provider - South Windsor Ambulance Corps - only provides basic - or EMT - service. SWAC has been reluctant, despite discussions throughout the years, to upgrade the level of service to advance life support - or paramedic - services.

The issue was brought into sharp focus upon 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 last summer. 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 worked on by emergency personnel during that period.)

Galligan said that the OEMS representative said that it was premature for the town to go out for an RFP. But Galligan said he was going forward with it to show what the cost will be in the event that the law is not changed so he can make a stronger case to the state to change the current provider.

Yagaloff said that in order to change a provider under current law, certain benchmarks had to be met. The only way for the town to get advance life support services is to change its current provider.