Most of the research I've seen says that CPR is absolutly nessacary to sustain life in a cardiac event. ALS has it's place, but only after bls skills are underway. The delay of mohawk means the delay of CPR.
Coming from schenectady to Rotterdam is a huge delay of those services.
If Mohawk put an ambulance into rotterdam ( which they won't ) then there's more of a case for them to take over services.
If CPR is absolutly necessary to sustain life....than every family member can take a CPR course and have someone drive them to the ER. That doesn't make sense. As far as mohawks respond time.....I can only make my assumptions on what mohawk has proposed. And that is setting up camp in REMS existing buildingl
Someone I know had a heart attack and Mohawk responded. They not only administered CPR, they also had the ability to start an IV and administer meds.....something that BLS can not do!
Again.....mohawk offers a far more superior, life saving service at NO cost to the taxpayers! Just like all other medical issues....insurance/copay! No brainer!
Question for anyone.....if mohawk gets voted in....what happens to the emt employed by the rpd? Does he lose his job? Does he get paid more money for being an emt? Or does his status and service stay the same?
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Question for anyone.....if mohawk gets voted in....what happens to the emt employed by the rpd? Does he lose his job? Does he get paid more money for being an emt? Or does his status and service stay the same?
My thought is that the position is funded through the police budget and would continue as such. I have never seen or heard of a case where the Rotterdam Paramedics are not the first on the scene. My guess is that this practice would continue. It was probably put in place to assure that ambulance service is really necessary, and for a professional assessment of an existing or pending medical crisis.
You make some thoughtful points...I hope you'll consider these.
Quoted from 680
1) Rotterdam EMS doesnt make enough money ( apparently ) from billing insurance agencies to cover their services. Is that because they might only charge BLS rates and not ALS rates? Im not sure. If they took over ALS coverage and had 1 EMT and 1 Paramedic in each bus I would think their service would be 10x more effective. Currently they run 2 EMT's x 2 Ambulances + 2 paramedics in SUV's from RPD. If they ditched the 2 SUV's and put the paramedics on the Ambulances, it would save money. Period.
Billing and collections has simply never been a priority with REMS...nor has efficiency. Their supporters tell us about those mean people at Mohawk who pursue payment for the delivery of a service...they in fact present this as a valid argument for the creation of this unnecessary tax, among other arguments. Opponents of this tax will tell you this is why Mohawk is a financially stable business... it is run as a business...a model that REMS has never been able to duplicate and, IMO, the reason REMS has never been able to achieve and maintain financial solvency.
Quoted from 680
2) Mohawk years ago took over ambulance coverage for Glenville / Scotia. I remember hearing that Mohawk promised to put a ambulance 24/7 in that area. That never happened, and ambulance coverage comes 100% from their main station in Schenectady.
Putting an ambulance in the area and housing a staffed ambulance 24/7 in a building purchased in the Town aren't quite the same. I am not familiar with the details of any written and/or spoken agreements between SG and Mohawk...I only know that in Rotterdam, the contract proposal from Mohawk included the purchase of one of the two buildings occupied by the two former volunteer squads... and remains a part of that proposal today. I would point out that proposals and arrangements between Mohawk and individual municipalities are derived entirely from the demographics of each area (call volume, etc.)...which varies from one locality to another. In the absence of another available building, or a need for one in SG, it would make sense to dispatch Mohawk from the main station which isn't that far away.
Quoted from 680
3) Mohawk provides mostly BLS coverage to Schenectady and Albany Cities. They charge for ALS services and I think also kick back some of that money back to the city. Long story short, they make more money for ALS services by billing for it but not having to put out the cost of said ALS services. At least thats a rumor, if it is not true someone from Mohawk or one of the Cities should clarify. If Mohawk were to take over EMS coverage for Rotterdam / Princetown the delays for care would be huge, I'd wager to say 10+ extra minutes to get an ambulance to someones house. If your in cardiac arrest, that is a death sentence in my opinion.
I do not believe Mohawk charges for ALS services not rendered...but that should be easy enough to confirm. Any revenues that may be paid to the municipality, again, is previously determined by statistics for that area. That's why Rotterdam and Princetown would not be covered under the same contract. Princetown, unlike Rotterdam, would pay because they simply to do not genrate nearly the same call volume. We have no reason to believe that there would be delays in response. Mohawk would be housed in the same location as the current staff and, unlike the current staff, has maintained response times within national standards...while REMS and the former White Eagle groups have not only failed to maintain those same standards, but have, on average, dropped more than half of their calls...which are then routed to Mohawk. So not only is Mohawk already answering a significant number of Rotterdam emergency calls, it is in fact their arrival being delayed when the call itself is delayed waiting to find out that REMS dropped the call again.
Quoted from 680
4) Rotterdam ALS services are provided by the Police department. I havent looked at the budget in a long time, but i would wager a guess that Rotterdam Police actually make more money from the town then they spend in ALS services. If that was NOT the case, I would have expected that REMS would have taken over ALS services along time ago. There is some reason why REMS doesnt run the ALS side of EMS in Rotterdam, if its not the police department's interference then im not sure what the issue is.
The paramedics at the RPD have ALS equipment and skills, REMS does not.
Quoted from 680
5) The Rotterdam fire departments could EASILY help the situation. Put one ambulance in South Schenectady and one in Carmen Fire Department. You just instantly saved money by not having to heat and light 2 buildings. Those 2 departments have plenty of room to fit an ambulance in their bays.
The fire departments are not interested in saving money we do not have to spend on REMS, or sharing their facilities. This is one of the reasons the firefighters are leading supporters of this tax district. Even if REMS were to somehow merge into the fire departments, they would raise taxes to cover ems...the only difference would be one higher combined tax levy, as opposed to two separate ones.
Quoted from 680
6) Do I need to mention that Rotterdam / Princetown Tax payers pay for at least 8 Fire Stations with a huge amount of fire trucks? The amount of money spent for the coverage gained is sad, between South Schenectady / Carmen / District 2 I would wager there is at least 3 million a year being spent. Now they dont charge alot per $1000 to each house, so many people dont complain, but believe me its a huge waste of money if you look at the 2 towns. So in short, theres 5 + million ( someone have a more accurate number?) being paid to 8 fire districts, but people dont want to give a few hundred thousand to your own dedicated ambulance?
Again, the firefighters want to keep what's theirs to themselves...and firefighters are a necessary public service, just as ems. The difference is that firefighting companies with whom we can subcontract are not available in the private sector, while the same cannot be said about ems. As long as a private option that meets all of our ems needs is available at no cost to taxpayers, I don't see how anyone could justify a tax for those services.
Putting an ambulance in the area and housing a staffed ambulance 24/7 in a building purchased in the Town aren't quite the same. I am not familiar with the details of any written and/or spoken agreements between SG and Mohawk...I only know that in Rotterdam, the contract proposal from Mohawk included the purchase of one of the two buildings occupied by the two former volunteer squads... and remains a part of that proposal today. I would point out that proposals and arrangements between Mohawk and individual municipalities are derived entirely from the demographics of each area (call volume, etc.)...which varies from one locality to another. In the absence of another available building, or a need for one in SG, it would make sense to dispatch Mohawk from the main station which isn't that far away.
I do not disagree with you on the REMS/MAS situation and this may have nothing to do with Rotterdam but is it your opinion that dispatching an ambulance from the main station to the Town of Glenville is ok? If I lived in Glenville, I would not be happy at all if that is the arrangement. The response time from the middle of the city to many parts of Glenville would not be sufficient IMO. I would be interested in knowing what the agreement states between the municipalities and MAS in this regard and whether the failed to hold up their side of the agreement in regards to a sub-station...
If MAS was going to respond to Rotterdam from their main station, I would not be satisfied with that either. (even if that's what they have been doing on some calls recently) I would hope that they would institute sub-stations to take care of Rotterdam-Princetown.
Whether the ambulance service is provided by REMS or MAS it must be run efficiently and it must be profitable or they will go bankrupt. So far REMS has not shown that it can turn a profit and pay it's bills.
I do not disagree with you on the REMS/MAS situation and this may have nothing to do with Rotterdam but is it your opinion that dispatching an ambulance from the main station to the Town of Glenville is ok? If I lived in Glenville, I would not be happy at all if that is the arrangement. The response time from the middle of the city to many parts of Glenville would not be sufficient IMO. I would be interested in knowing what the agreement states between the municipalities and MAS in this regard and whether the failed to hold up their side of the agreement in regards to a sub-station...
If MAS was going to respond to Rotterdam from their main station, I would not be satisfied with that either. (even if that's what they have been doing on some calls recently) I would hope that they would institute sub-stations to take care of Rotterdam-Princetown.
I do not have the information to determine whether dispatching from MAS main station allows for sufficient response times to various sections of Glenville, or if any terms or conditions of some type of agreement were violated, but I'd like to think that any existing written agreements, resolutions, etc. can be obtained for review from municipal offices.
I would not want MAS dispatched to Rotterdam from their main station either, but the main station is much farther from Rotterdam than Scotia and many parts of Glenville...another one of those items used to determine ems proposals to municipalities. The REMS property is in Rotterdam and its purchase is part of the MAS proposal, which would constitute a sub-station. As for Princetown, again... their circumstances are different and a separate agreement would be made for that municipality.
Then the town will have no choice but to privatize the service, as they should have done long ago.
Gad, I am impressed with your analysis of the tax district issue. I am very confused as to how you align yourself with Gerard considering he was the architect of the tax district.
Anywho, I think you have the conclusion wrong. If the voters say NO, the town can continue to use REMS or anyone else. They can contract with a non profit as easy as a for profit.
Gad, I am impressed with your analysis of the tax district issue. I am very confused as to how you align yourself with Gerard considering he was the architect of the tax district.
Anywho, I think you have the conclusion wrong. If the voters say NO, the town can continue to use REMS or anyone else. They can contract with a non profit as easy as a for profit.
Thank you for your review.
Assuming you are referring to alliance in the political context, I have no political position on Mr. Parisi, and he is well aware of my opposition to this new tax. GP is not the architect of the ems tax proposal...the interested parties proposed the tax option long before he showed up, and he never voted for a tax district. As the town attorney last year, his interest in the issue was limited to his job duties - providing legal guidance to an administration that was unfortunately intent on promoting the new tax district, whether he personally supported it or not. As a board member this year, he only voted to put the measure before the electorate. Whatever position GP may hold on this issue, I suspect that given all of the options, he would choose the more sensible private option...just as many of this forum's members did once they were made aware of those choices.
If the voters say no, REMS is certainly free to bid on a contract with the town whether as a for-profit or non-profit...as a private contractor. The important thing would be that an unnecessary tax will not be created in the face of more responsible options.
On June 29, Rotterdam residents will have a direct say in whether to bail out a private business with tax dollars by creating a new taxing district. Nationally we have seen bailouts of companies deemed too large to fail and the political ramifications of supporting such initiatives are already being felt by candidates across this great country. Rotterdam’s former administration lost a lot of support by proposing the idea of adding a new taxing district, and the current administration, with some of its members claiming to be conservatives, is hoping that this proposal passes a June 29 vote. The current administration is obligated to provide its constituents with all information regarding this issue, including informing the residents that the vote is even to take place. Voters need to be made aware of their options, the financial solvency of the business, and long-term effects of adding a taxing district so that each voter is able to make an informed decision while having their voice heard. As of May 27 there is no notification on the town’s Web site or any background information regarding this crucial vote. The organization in question, Rotterdam Emergency Medical Services [REMS], provides an outstanding service to the community and, just like any other business, they have had their share of financial challenges. As mentioned in a May 20 letter [“Without reform, REMS will only bleed taxpayers”], REMS has received signifi cant funding from the town for the past few years and, just recently, they have had their tax issues resolved and were placed on a payment plan by the IRS. REMS should continue to receive funding through the town’s general fund while being given the opportunity to prove itself a viable and selfsufficient business that would no longer need help in the form of tax dollars. Compared to our school districts and the state Thruway Authority, should we expect anything less from this new taxing district — other than the gradual increase of the burden on taxpayers? Re a May 25 letter [“Ambulance district will keep Rotterdam EMS alive and well”], a donation is a voluntary act or choice of freedom to do as you please with your hard-earned money whereas a taxing district, no matter how small the intrusion, is another loss of a personal choice or freedom. Do donations incur penalties if not received on time? Rotterdam needs a plan of action to deal with REMS, not a taxing district.
REMS needs to start operating like any other business and either start showing a profit, pay their bills and salaries or go under. Chris doesn't state how long the town should keep bailing REMS out of financial debt but a tax district will have to do it forever.
Great analysis from both Gladfly and Chris Tomaselli. Both make more sense than anyone on the current TB. Typical to schedule a separate vote make the majority NO! jump hoops. This should be scheduled on Primary Day.
Logged
Great analysis from both Gladfly and Chris Tomaselli. Both make more sense than anyone on the current TB. Typical to schedule a separate vote make the majority NO! jump hoops. This should be scheduled on Primary Day.
