Town of Wappingers drops Alamo

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Village changes ambulance service

Wappingers Falls silent on reasons for switch

By David Paulsen

Poughkeepsie Journal

WAPPINGERS FALLS — The village will drop Alamo as its ambulance service next month in favor of Mobile Life Support in an effort to improve service to residents.

The one-year contract with Mobile Life Support, which takes effect March 6, will cost the village $18,000 — the same amount it was paying Alamo.

The Town of Wappinger ended its contract with Alamo in 2004 after a dispute over response times in which the town at one point declared a state of emergency. The Town of East Fishkill and the Village of Fishkill also dropped Alamo that year but for different reasons.

No criticism offered

Wappingers Falls officials have been careful to withhold direct criticism of Alamo.

"I can't knock them, because they did do a good job here," Mayor Cal Lawrence said, but the village thought it could do better with another ambulance service.

Lawrence said Alamo's response times have been a point of concern. Village board member John Visentin said the issue was raised last year by fire officials.

"They were the ones that really were indicating to us that they were not happy with the level of service," said Visentin, a member of the village's fire committee.

When Village Clerk John Karge conducted two studies of Alamo's response times last fall, he found the ambulance service had fulfilled its promise to arrive on the scene of emergencies within nine minutes — the village's standard — in all but one or two cases.

"The response times were never an issue with (the village board)," Karge said. The village simply decided Mobile Life Support had more to offer.

Mobile Life Support will base at least one ambulance and crew in the village at all times, whereas Alamo had pledged only ambulances would be available to respond to the village, Karge said.

Alamo will serve as a backup service for Wappingers Falls through March 13 while Mobile Life Support gets up and running, Karge said.

Kevin Ronk, vice president of Alamo Ambulance Service, said he hopes the village will consider Alamo again in the future.

"We have a good relationship dealing with the village," Ronk said. "The loss of any municipal contract is unfortunate, for sure, but Alamo will just look to expand its service areas elsewhere."

David Paulsen can be reached at dpaulsen@poughkeepsiejournal.com