By Melanie Hitchcock
The Union Leader
MILFORD, N.H. — With the closure of Rockingham Regional Ambulance, the town’s ambulance service has become an unexpected source of revenue, bringing in more than $50,000 in unanticipated funds this year.
In late July, Rockingham Regional Ambulance announced they would be going out of business on Sept. 30, leaving Milford Medical Center without a way to transfer patients who needed more extensive care to St. Joseph Hospital in Nashua, according to Milford Ambulance Service Director Eric Schelberg.
Schelberg said St. Joseph, which owns Milford Medical Center, approached him and asked whether the town’s ambulance service could provide transports between the two facilities. Schelberg said that after looking at the number of calls both Rockingham and Milford responded to, there was certainly room in the day for expanded volume.
“The analysis projected an increase of approximately 286 additional calls in 2012, or .87 more calls per day,” said Schelberg.
But the director said he had to be sure that being called away to transport patients wouldn’t weaken the primary function of the Milford Ambulance Service — to respond to emergencies in Milford and surrounding towns. But Schelberg added that because Milford Medical Center is a business in town and the people within the building are entitled to the same emergency response as anyone else in Milford, he views the transports as part of the department’s mission.
As of the first half of December, Schelberg said, “the department has handled an increase of one call per day and has not had to use mutual aid to handle a request for medical aid in Milford due to an ambulance being on a transfer.”
The Milford Ambulance Service has only six full-time employees and is otherwise staffed by volunteers. To accommodate the slight increase in calls, Schelberg said the department has increased the availability of a second paramedic during weekday evenings and weekends to ensure adequate coverage when the Milford Medical Center is open.
And while the cost to the department for the additional calls has been minimal, the benefit has been immediate.
“I am projecting an increase in revenue, after expenses, of approximately $50,000 which goes into the general fund and will offset the department’s cost of operations,” Schelberg said.
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