Southeast-Brewster Fire District Starts EMS Company

SOUTHEAST, NY — DocGo, the company formerly known as Ambulnz, has informed the Southeast Brewster Fire District that it is ending ALS services Nov. 30.

But the Southeast-Brewster Joint Fire District was not caught unaware.

"We kind of planned for this," Commissioner Gerald Schramek told Patch. "When we had our board discussions in the past few months, we were concerned that DocGo would do something like this. We wanted to safeguard the community."

Schramek said when Ambulnz was brought to the region two years ago in a surprise move by the county government, it already had a history of dropping contracts in California.

"They came into Putnam County and the relationship was rocky," he said Thursday. "We knew we had to take steps."

So, there's money in the 2024 budget for a new Southeast-Brewster EMS Company, he said.

"We didn't expect it to be this soon, and it's unfortunate that we only had 30 days notice, but we are putting the plan into play," he said.

The fire district has created the company to provide ALS services to Brewster and Southeast using the two ambulances currently housed at the Brewster Fire Department, which will be the new EMS company's headquarters.

The commissioners are in the process of reviewing resumes for EMTs. "And some of them may be familiar with the territory because they may be people not working for Ambulnz," he said.

Putnam County dropped DocGo after just 18 months. The previous administration's deal with Ambulnz late in 2021 surprised and infuriated many local ambulance corps and municipal financial officers. The California company replaced Empress EMS/EMStar, whose contract with the county was expiring at the end of the year. Ambulnz, which changed its name to DocGo, operated in 26 states and the UK.

Ambulnz was believed to have significantly underbid its initial contract, which was approved in December 2021 by the Putnam County Legislature despite concerns expressed at a Protective Services Committee meeting with members of the administration and a packed audience. Listen to the discussion here.

Earlier this year, Ambulnz requested a new contract be negotiated, and the new administration agreed to entertain a new proposal while opening the process to competing proposals as well. The old provider, Empress Ambulance Services, submitted the lowest responsible proposal and demonstrated an ability to implement services in a timely manner, officials said when switching back in July.

SEE ALSO:

• Putnam Drops Controversial Ambulance Service After 18 Months
• Putnam's New Ambulance Service Will Raise Local Costs