Delaware Lacking Emergency Volunteers
(December 10, 2007 - The Daily Star)
By Jake Palmateer, Staff Writer
Early last week, Delaware County 911 toned out the Stamford emergency squad for a medical call. A short time later, after getting no response, the dispatcher had to tone out two nearby squads to respond from 10 miles away or more.
Stamford is not alone. Emergency medical responses in some parts of Delaware County are being seriously hindered by a shortage of volunteers, officials said Thursday.
One of the first things Stamford town Supervisor-elect Michael Triolo said he would like to look at when he takes office in January is how to ensure that when someone needs an ambulance, there are first responders available to help.
With many Stamford residents working in outlying communities and others working at jobs where they can't get away, when the need for a medical response arises, there often isn't anyone to respond, Triolo said.
"Daytime coverage is getting problematic," Triolo said.
And it's not just Stamford that is having a problem, said Triolo and the county's emergency medical services coordinator, Stephen Hood.
"Unfortunately, it's happening throughout the county," said Hood, who is also the county's deputy director of emergency management.
The time commitment needed to be an EMS volunteer was cited by both men as one of the main reasons for the shortage.
"It's a time commitment that a lot of people aren't willing or can't afford to make," Hood said.
Triolo added, "There's a limited number of people willing to do it. It's a real complex issue."
But the closer you get to hospitals, the less serious the problem seems to be, the men agreed.
Only about five of the 600 ambulance calls handled by the Delhi Fire Department last year had to be turned over to an outside department, Hood explained.
O'Connor Hospital in Delhi has an emergency room a few minutes away from any call handled by that department.
In Stamford, an ambulance call involves about an hour round trip to the A.O. Fox Memorial Hospital emergency room in Oneonta or the O'Connor emergency room. There is also time spent responding to the emergency, providing services at the scene of the emergency and doing paperwork after a patient is delivered.
Routine ambulance calls in Stamford can last three hours or more, Hood said.
Both men said no one is planning to build a hospital in Stamford anytime soon.
But Hood said he doesn't know of any case where someone has died because help did not arrive in time because of a lack of volunteers.
"I am 99.9 percent sure that that's never happened in Delaware County," Hood said, adding that he doesn't know what the solution is and the county can only do so much.
"We are a guidance agency. That's all we are," Hood said. "We can't mandate people to do things."
There have been multiple meetings in Stamford, including a community-wide forum on the issue, Hood said.
"Unfortunately, I can't say it worked," Hood said.
But there are 20 people enrolled in an EMT class right now in Stamford and many of them are from the Stamford area, he said.
Demographics could also have something to do with the demand for emergency medical services and the supply of trained emergency medical personnel.
"Delaware County's population is definitely aging," Hood said.
And as the population ages, emergency crews can be expected to be asked to respond to more ambulance calls, he said.
None of the area departments has had a decrease in call volume in recent years, Hood said.
Another aspect of the aging population may also be fewer people willing to volunteer in the emergency services.
"We have seen a number of people stop being EMTs because they are getting up there in age," Hood said.
Stipends for those who go out on calls have been suggested in some communities as a way to encourage volunteers to respond. "My own personal sense is it's more than a money issue," Triolo said. "There are huge time commitments."
Hood said there are also state requirements that forbid volunteer emergency service providers from charging for services and establishing any sort of paid emergency service provider system could be expensive.
The county may want to look at starting a "fly car" service, Triolo said.
Fly cars are cars or sport-utility vehicles stocked with advance life support equipment that can quickly respond to a medical emergency.
A fly-car system is under consideration in Chenango County and has been discussed in Otsego County in recent years. Schoharie County has fly cars.
"Unfortunately, that's a large monetary undertaking," Hood said.
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