By Susan Misur
The New Haven Register
NORTH BRANFORD, Conn. — Town Council members are considering a paramedic program in town, but it will be “difficult” to fit the program in next year’s proposed budget, Mayor Anthony Candelora says.
Council members formed a committee last week to study the initiative because money for a possible paramedic program is currently included in the Fire Department’s proposed 2010-11 budget. But the council can make cuts from any department after Town Manager Richard Branigan presents the proposed budget to them Tuesday.
“It’s too early to say if it will go through or not,” Candelora said. “In these economic times, we have to look at costs and how many paramedics we need, what it entails to start a program.”
Candelora said residents have contacted Town Council members to express support for a paramedic program.
The committee would have to finish its study and submit results to the Town Council, which must then vote on keeping it in the 2010- 11 budget, before the budget is finalized this spring.
At a January Town Council meeting, Anthony Esposito Jr., town finance director and deputy fire chief, and Fire Chief William Seward said the town would have to pay an extra $110,000 a year to run the program and make a one-time purchase of advanced life- support equipment for $70,000.
Seward also submitted a report and made a presentation to the council on why North Branford’s Fire Department, which is the designated first responder in emergencies, needs a paramedic program; it’s the only community in the area without one, and medical calls increase each year.
Currently, Fire Department volunteers or EMTs hired through Vintech Management Services are dispatched to provide basic life support when someone dials 911. If a paramedic is needed, volunteers and EMTs must then wait with the patient until a paramedic arrives. Or they can begin driving the patient in the ambulance and meet the paramedic somewhere on the side of the road so the paramedic can stabilize the person before continuing to the hospital.
If the program is approved, the town will upgrade its contract with Vintech or another emergency services staff provider and pay a flat fee for the company to provide paramedics.
Seward says he has no indication of what the Town Council will decide.
“The appropriate authority in North Branford has been provided with clear, concise and accurate available data of the Fire Department’s EMS operations,” he said. “It clearly demonstrates the need for paramedics in the suburban community.”
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