Are there any mistakes that have been made by Rotterdam EMS in the years that they have served the town?  Any lawsuits that have resulted from a delayed response or improper care of a patient being attended or transported?


Mohawk Ambulance answers many more calls across the Capital District than does REMS in the Town of Rotterdam.  To cite a single instance that regrettably resulted in a tragic death seems disingenuous.  Can someone speak to the long term records of the two entities?

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

Mohawk can "promise" to keep a couple of ambulances in the town at all times  BUT look at the tragedy last summer in Albany --  the promised ambulances in Albany were ALL out of town .. when that young boy died lying in the street waiting for the promised ambulance to get from Troy back to Albany.

I am sure that the young boy's parents would gladly pay 10 cents per thousand of their house's taxable value .. if they could bring him back to life.

Maybe if municipalities didn't regulate ambulance services and allowed for multiple ambulance companies to compete in a municipality, the supply would meet the demand and eventually over time get better service.  

But in today's America, free market solutions are not considered.  CENTRAL PLANNING IS THE ONLY ANSWER.

Personally, I don't mind paying 10 cents per thousand to keep REMS alive and well .. protecting the lives of me and my family.

I know how I will vote when it comes up for a referendum ..  
my main concern is that the referendum be clear and transparent .. a YES vote means a tax district to support REMS and a NO vote means no district .. and we privatize.   That would be the clearest and simplest way to put the question to the voters.

Rotterdam currently has a Police Paramedic unit which does a fine job of stabilizing patients until transport arrives if the Ambulance Service is tied up at times.

Quoted from Shadow

Rotterdam currently has a Police Paramedic unit which does a fine job of stabilizing patients until transport arrives if the Ambulance Service is tied up at times.

and Rotterdam has a great ambulance service in REMS .. that is worth keeping, too

REMS should be run like any other business not another tax sucking parasite.

Quoted from Shadow

REMS should be run like any other business not another tax sucking parasite.

Emergency Medical Services are NOT "any other business" ... they provide a vital community service.

Mohawk Ambulance is being run like a business and is paying it's own salaries and expenses. When the REMS became a paid service they became a business subject to all the pitfalls that a business faces.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

Mohawk can "promise" to keep a couple of ambulances in the town at all times  BUT look at the tragedy last summer in Albany --  the promised ambulances in Albany were ALL out of town .. when that young boy died lying in the street waiting for the promised ambulance to get from Troy back to Albany.

I am sure that the young boy's parents would gladly pay 10 cents per thousand of their house's taxable value .. if they could bring him back to life.

with or without a taxing district tragedies happen.....but without the taxing district I wont be subsidizing a 'future business' when the
town decides it cant afford it.........

it's NOT a perfect system and never will be....as for vital community service...our volunteer fire/police dept should FREQUENTLY offer
FREE BLS classes and some paid for ALS classes for the masses in the community.........they have plenty of space for receptions/parties
beer/soda etc........

Quoted from Shadow

Mohawk Ambulance is being run like a business and is paying it's own salaries and expenses. When the REMS became a paid service they became a business subject to all the pitfalls that a business faces.

by that same logic .. then we should have a 100% volunteer police department and heck ..lets make
all the town departments .. volunteer

I have a little inside information about how expensive it really is to run the REMS when it was a volunteer service. Now that it's a paid service the expenses have got to be enormous and will continue to get larger as time goes on. The cost of medical equipment, state mandated equipment and procedures, training, and new rigs will only go higher as time goes on. The burden to the taxpayer could be quite large if it becomes funded thru the tax rolls. There are consequences when you decide to become a paid service and the REMS, admittedly a good organization needs to be able to make enough money to pay for it's expenses or go out of business just like any other business.

Quoted from Shadow

I have a little inside information about how expensive it really is to run the REMS when it was a volunteer service. Now that it's a paid service the expenses have got to be enormous and will continue to get larger as time goes on. The cost of medical equipment, state mandated equipment and procedures, training, and new rigs will only go higher as time goes on. The burden to the taxpayer could be quite large if it becomes funded thru the tax rolls. There are consequences when you decide to become a paid service and the REMS, admittedly a good organization needs to be able to make enough money to pay for it's expenses or go out of business just like any other business.

But the same would be true for Mohawk Ambulance .. there expenses have increased for the same reasons.  
If REMS goes away - Mohawk will basically have a monopoly -- that is why I believe they are telling us
what we want to hear NOW .. so we give in .. and privatize .. then when they are the only show in town ..they will sing a different tune.

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

Personally, I don't mind paying 10 cents per thousand to keep REMS alive and well .. protecting the lives of me and my family.

I know how I will vote when it comes up for a referendum ..  
my main concern is that the referendum be clear and transparent .. a YES vote means a tax district to support REMS and a NO vote means no district .. and we privatize.   That would be the clearest and simplest way to put the question to the voters.

I thought you had to be a property owner to vote.  Do you own property in Rotterdam DVR?  I couldn't find you in the tax rolls . . . .

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

Mohawk can "promise" to keep a couple of ambulances in the town at all times  BUT look at the tragedy last summer in Albany --  the promised ambulances in Albany were ALL out of town .. when that young boy died lying in the street waiting for the promised ambulance to get from Troy back to Albany.

I am sure that the young boy's parents would gladly pay 10 cents per thousand of their house's taxable value .. if they could bring him back to life.

       The issue of survivability from an accident is more of a function of the extent of injuries rather than response time.  If the ambulance was right there waiting for the accident, the victim still may not survive.  There are multiple factors that have to be evaluated, certainly response time is part of the equation, but only part!

Quoted from AVON

       The issue of survivability from an accident is more of a function of the extent of injuries rather than response time.  If the ambulance was right there waiting for the accident, the victim still may not survive.  There are multiple factors that have to be evaluated, certainly response time is part of the equation, but only part!

The fact is that Mohawk PROMISED to have ambulances IN the City of Albany .. but NONE were.
The closest was on I-787 coming from Troy.
So - Mohawk can promise that they will have 2 ambulances in Rotterdam at all times .. but there
record shows that they don't always keep their promises.  If you want to take the chance of losing
someone's life because of an unkept promise .. then by all means .. privatize.   I prefer to keep REMS