JACKSONVILLE — In a public meeting on Jan. 23, members of Whitingham Ambulance Service, Inc. (WASI) met with community leaders to discuss a proposed tax increase to pay for full-time, around-the-clock staffing by licensed EMTs.
Founded in 1966, WASI is a not-for-profit emergency medical and ambulance service with a predominantly volunteer staff that provides skilled pre-hospital emergency medical care, education, and training to community members in allied health and emergency medicine, and community outreach on health and safety related topics.
This funding proposal addresses the growing problem of volunteer and resource scarcity for ambulance and emergency services to Halifax and Whitingham. New state laws for ambulance crews require more robust staffing and training - requirements that volunteer Christina Moore says WASI's crew cannot meet.
“So we propose hiring full-time staff funded by the people who own property or live in Halifax and Whitingham,” said Moore. A paid staff would maintain 100 percent compliance with training requirements, state reporting requirements, and other tasks involved with supporting a community ambulance service. Such funding would require voters in both towns to approve a new tax.
The challenges that WASI faces are systemic to life in rural, remote Vermont.
In 2012, WASI's nine volunteers responded to 140 calls, while Windham County's population aged and decreased.
“The changes in the population impact us in two big ways,” said Moore. “First, there are fewer people able to volunteer to work on the ambulance. Second, as the population ages, the demands on the ambulance increase.”
Emergency service volunteerism has declined steadily for decades, and the service has already lost two key veteran members in 2013.
In 1988, WASI had 34 volunteers; records show 21 members in 1990. “Today, the eight active members are on duty every moment they are in the community,” Moore said.
In spite of their staffing and funding challenges, WASI managed to average 22-minute response times in 2012, but the state of Vermont has issued WASI a conditional license and asked the service to find solutions or lose the license to operate an ambulance.
If Halifax and Whitingham decide against funding an around-the-clock staff, ambulance services may have to come from neighboring towns such as Colrain, Brattleboro, and Wilmington.
“That means people of Halifax and Whitingham will wait 45 to 60 minutes for emergency response in our community,” said Moore.
There may be additional benefits from WASI's proposed tax-funded full-time staff. Paramedics and EMTs on-duty can provide community services such as blood pressure clinics, monitoring patients with complex health issues, and responding more easily to public assistance calls for falls.
“What we need is a solution, and a full-time staff funded by the community is just one possibility,” said Moore, who's also researching state funding. “The state funds a bus service to get skiers to a mountain, so why not an ambulance service to get residents to the hospital?”