New Castle Weighs 2 Paramedic Plans

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New Castle weighs 2 paramedic plans

By ELIZABETH GANGA

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original Publication: April 17, 2006)

NEW CASTLE — The Town Board has received two proposals for paramedic service based in the town but is not making them public until it decides whether to sign a contract with one of the agencies.

New Castle gets paramedic service as part of a coalition of eight towns served by three paramedics from Westchester EMS.

The medics, who respond to emergencies in "fly" cars with special equipment, back up the local volunteer ambulance corps and have more advanced medical training. The volunteers provide basic life support and transport patients to hospitals.

Westchester EMS, a paramedic service run by Stellaris Health Network, a nonprofit consortium of hospitals, serves the part of New Castle east of the Taconic State Parkway; paramedics from Ossining serve the western part.

Town Supervisor Janet Wells has been exploring whether the town should pull out of the consortium to get faster paramedic response for the same money or less. The Town Board agreed to seek proposals, but pulling out has been controversial among residents and board members.

May 1 is the deadline for the town to decide whether to leave the consortium, but Wells said Friday the town could ask for an extension of a week or two.

Wells said she believed the proposals should be made public.

"I would like residents to know what the options are," Wells said. "It's their money."

Town Attorney Clinton Smith argued that publicizing the proposals could hurt negotiations.

Robert Freeman, executive director of the state Committee on Open Government, said the portions of the proposals that would not hurt the town's ability to negotiate should be made public.

"I would argue that disclosure may assist the government in reaching the best deal," he said.

In response to the request for proposals, Westchester EMS submitted a letter offering to address New Castle's concerns through the consortium by adding another fly car to the mix, or making other changes.

The details would be worked out with the eight municipalities, which also include North Castle, Mount Kisco, Bedford, Pound Ridge, Lewisboro, North Salem and Somers.

"The consortium model fundamentally works," said Arthur Nizza, president of Stellaris Health.

Empress Ambulance Service, a private company that provides paramedics to Yorktown and elsewhere, also put in a proposal, laying out the costs for coverage for three levels of service: one paramedic for 12 hours a day; one for 24 hours a day; and two paramedics during the day and one at night.

Hanan Cohen, Empress' marketing manager, wouldn't say what the price tag was for each service, but that the costs were similar to what Yorktown pays.

"We are significantly more reasonable," than what Westchester EMS charges to provide a paramedic, he said. Towns in the consortium are charged a total of about $1.5 million for three paramedics.

New Castle, which just negotiated a decrease, is paying $266,794 this year. The closest fly car is usually stationed in Mount Kisco, making response times a concern.

In its request for proposals, the town asked for a response time under 9 minutes for 90 percent of calls. Now, just under 62 percent take 9 minutes or less.

Though the eight towns decided in 2000 to contract together for paramedic service because large parts of the area are rural, and many of the towns have few emergency calls, some nearby towns have their own paramedics. Mount Pleasant, for instance, decided not to join the consortium.

"It was so large even without us we felt that it wouldn't provide the service we needed," said town Supervisor Robert Meehan.

Instead, Mount Pleasant, with about 43,000 residents, has a contract with TransCare for two fly cars at a cost of $333,444 this year. At night the town shares a car with Westchester Medical Center. Meehan said response times average around 6 minutes.

"It's an essential service, and it's worked out very well," he said.

Yorktown is also larger than New Castle and has more medical calls — 2,459 in 2005 compared to 344 calls in New Castle. It spends about $436,000 a year for its paramedic service. The town has one fly car with two paramedics working during the day and one at night.

Yorktown Supervisor Linda Cooper said she'd recommend dedicated paramedic service. "A number of lives have been saved, principally heart-attack victims," she said. "That first 10 minutes is critical."

Edited April 18, 2006 by hoss

[Guest]

Ok, now that more info has been released, here's the thread:

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Nice to see how some Towns appreciate and see the significance of timely paramedic service dedicated to their town and how its an integral part of an ideal EMS system. Hopefully this trend will continue. The public needs to be educated on the different levels of care available to them just as they know what they get inside the hospital. Articles like this are crucial to opening the eyes of the public and changing the perception from ambulance driver to healthcare provider. Might seem like a small step but its a start. I feel that career EMS providers deserve to get the same recognition as the healthcare workers on the inside.

[Guest]

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"We are significantly more reasonable," than what Westchester EMS charges to provide a paramedic, he said. Towns in the consortium are charged a total of about $1.5 million for three paramedics. Where does the nonprofit part come in? What are the response times for that price tag? I would assume they must be at least at the same standard that other companies provide or why would they pay so much? Also at those prices i would think they could and should have 5 cars or more????

[Guest]

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The proposal which was originally not available to the public has now been released. It seems that it was only one proposal from Empress and a sheet from WEMS. Does anyone know if you are responding to an RFP is it acceptable if you don't address any of the criteria set forth in the RFP? And if only one proposal is given and it clearly gives superior service than the current provider based on response times etc what is the towns obligation? I know they are to serve in the best interest of its residents.