By CHRIS LINDAHL
Daily Hampshire Gazette
@cmlindahl
SOUTHAMPTON — Fire Chief John Workman says he agrees with a recent state report’s criticism of his department for failing to provide around-the-clock ambulance coverage because, according to him, there is no money for a second shift at the fire station.
The Fire Department’s ambulance program was inspected by the state Office of Emergency Medical Services on Nov. 23. The inspector noted five instances between August and October during evening and overnight hours that the department functions on a standby basis, when it was unable to provide a full crew for response. The inspector found that this did not meet the requirements for coverage agreed to by the Office of Emergency Medical Services and town officials when Southampton upgraded its ambulance service from basic to paramedic level in 2013.
When a Southampton ambulance is unable to respond to a call, the town’s dispatcher calls one from a nearby community. Workman noted that over 90 percent of emergency calls are responded to by his department.
While Workman said he has a temporary solution for covering all shifts through June 30, the town will likely have to find more money, which he estimates at $135,000, if residents want full coverage during the next fiscal year beginning July 1. He echoed unsuccessful pleas for funding he made earlier this year.
The service upgrade was made when the Fire Department was led by former interim Chief William Kaleta. Workman took over a few days after paramedic services were first rolled out in October 2013.
Ideally, the cost of meeting the state’s requirements for paramedic-level services would have been calculated and gone to a town referendum two years ago to see if voters were willing to pay the cost, Workman said.
“Now we’re committed with the state but there’s no funding for it,” he said. “I think what they’re looking for is a commitment that we want to keep the paramedic service.”
Workman this spring proposed adding a second shift at the Fire Department at an annual cost of $135,000. Town Meeting voters in May approved the measure, but a Proposition 2½ override to fund the second shift was defeated in June.
The station is staffed by firefighters, who are also emergency medical technicians or paramedics, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. During evening and overnight hours, the department functions on a standby basis, with firefighters responding to calls from their homes.
Because the Southampton positions are a second or third job for all of the department’s 30 or so personnel, the $50 standby stipend does not provide much of a financial incentive for firefighters, Workman said.
Those who sign up for a standby shift are also paid an hourly wage when they respond to calls, but signing up for the shift means forgoing sometimes more reliable pay at one of their other jobs.
Workman has proposed a “stopgap measure” that he said would satisfy the state requirements, but only for the current fiscal year.
Because the department offered only basic-level services this summer after an earlier state inspection found problems with its operations, it saved money on paramedic labor costs.
Workman said he plans to use that money to pay an extra $3 an hour for standby response and double the standby stipend for any firefighter who commits to sign up for a 5 p.m.-to-8 a.m. standby shift.
While that would likely fix gaps in coverage until June 30, a permanent solution beginning the next fiscal year will cost the town, which Workman acknowledges will be a “challenge.”
The Select Board has discussed the expansion of Fire Department coverage in the last month during budget planning sessions, said Town Administrator Heather Budrewicz.
“One of the goals they did discuss at length is seeing if we could fund an additional shift for ambulance and fire so that we are adhering to our agreement with the state,” she said.
New ideas may come when the town hires a consultant to examine its public safety operations, to be paid for with a state grant.
The board is “going to be looking at things constantly and continuously as they get the results of the study,” Budrewicz said.
The state provided Workman with a list of EMTs and paramedics who live within five miles of the fire station, and as a result could cover standby shifts. He said of the 35 listed, only 10 work a primary job that would allow them to take on the needed Southampton shifts.
Workman said relying on standby workers presents a challenge to departments across the country, because any candidates must live within a short distance of a station to allow them to respond quickly to emergencies.
Adding a second shift would allow the department to hire outside of that immediate geographic area, he said.
The terms of the agreement between the state and town require the Fire Department to provide full paramedic-level coverage by October 2016, to be rolled out over three years. The department has succeeded at meeting the incremental upgrades, such as expanding staffing to seven days per week, but did not meet this year’s goal of increased coverage.
If the town is unable to fund an additional ambulance shift, the state may force the department to entirely abandon its paramedic-level services, Workman said.
Chris Lindahl can be reached at [email protected].
