Putnam: Out with Alamo, in with Empire State

[Guest]

Today is the day Empire State starts in Putnam County, on my way to work this morning I heard all the Alamo medics signing off in Putnam and all the Empire State medics signing on. Hopefully this was a good move for Putnam county.

[Guest]

Putnam beefs up its ambulance service starting today

By SUSAN ELAN

THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: September 29, 2006)

CARMEL — Residents of eastern Putnam County facing a serious medical emergency — a heart attack or severe allergic reaction — now stand a better chance of getting to the hospital quicker during the day.

Today, two ambulances staffed by paramedics who can administer advanced life support will be stationed at the Mahopac and Patterson fire departments, ready to respond to emergencies when a volunteer ambulance corps cannot be assembled within five minutes of a 911 call.

"This service will save many lives," said William Huestis, director of Putnam's Office for the Aging.

County Executive Robert Bondi, who has volunteered with the Mahopac Fire Department for 15 years and responded to a call early yesterday, said the fully equipped ambulances would provide transportation "during the critical work time hours."

Bondi cut a ribbon yesterday at the county's Emergency Services Center in Carmel to kick off the enhanced transportation.

Empire State Ambulance Corp., a Fishkill company, has taken over providing advanced life support and paramedic services in Putnam from Alamo Ambulance Service of Poughkeepsie. Under the new contract, Empire State has replaced two paramedic "fly car" vehicles — which can provide advanced life support but not transport — with the ambulances.

The two new ambulances are on call from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. On nights and weekends, volunteers, who provide basic life support, will continue to do the transport while the paramedics will still provide advanced life support.

Robert Trainor, Empire State's chief operating officer, said, "Empire is here to support the volunteers, not to take anything away from them."

Residents carried to the hospital by an Empire ambulance will get billed for transport even if they do not receive advanced life support. The sick or injured taken to the hospital by a fire department ambulance do not pay for transport, but they or their insurance company are billed for the paramedic's service.

The county will pay Empire State $485,000 in the first year of its contract and $504,000 in the second. The Legislature approved the change from fly cars to ambulances in eastern Putnam as a pilot program.

The reason is that between 2002 and 2005, response times of more than 20 minutes rose from 8 percent of the time to 25 percent. During the same period, response times of longer than 30 minutes increased from 0.6 percent to 6 percent.

The western portion of Putnam, which has had fewer delays, continues to have coverage from two paramedic fly car vehicles and to provide its own volunteer ambulance transport service. The fly car vehicles will continue to be staffed with a paramedic.

Communities throughout the country that rely on volunteers are confronting the same problem with longer response times as people commute greater distances or work more than one job to pay the bills, said Robert Cuomo, the county's emergency medical services director and a volunteer in Patterson since 1982.

The need for emergency services also can be expected to rise in Putnam as the population ages and more elderly move into senior housing proposed for construction, Huestis said.

Loretta Molinari, assistant health commissioner, said the enhanced service will reassure the "acutely ill" assisted by the county's home health agency.

People suffering from congestive heart failure, diabetes and cancer may require more than one hospitalization under emergency conditions and the dependable transportation will make an important difference to them, Molinari said.

Jean Arledge of Mahopac said being thrown from her horse about four years ago had been a frightening experience until the ambulance arrived to take her to the hospital.

"It was very reassuring to see the paramedic because my hip had gone numb," she said.

[EJS1810 7]

Most of the Medics transferred over from Alamo. I know Medic 3 changed his shirt at 0600 hours.

[jps385 0]

Good Luck to all. For the Putnam 911 dispatchers, now that the trucks all have GPS will you be dispatching closet medic based on GPS, or continue with the dispatch by district?

[Guest]

Give it 6 months to a year and youll be seeing fully staffed ambulances 24/7 on the eastern side of the county.

[Guest]

You won't see fully staffed ambulances in Putnam for a long time, this should work out great.