By Matt Gunderson
The Union Leader
Londonderry, N.H — When the Town Council debated whether to pursue more firefighters via a federal grant on July 15, the question kept coming up during nearly 2 & 1/2 hours of heated discussion: Should the town join other big cities in the area and begin outsourcing ambulance services to a private company?
State Rep. Al Baldasaro spoke fervently at the meeting in favor of outsourcing the town’s ambulance services, currently the complete responsibility of the fire department. Though the fire department receives a reimbursement for each ambulance call, Baldasaro questions whether the town should even be getting involved in the service in the first place.
“Many towns are outsourcing and saving money on the taxpayers,” said Baldasaro. “We shouldn’t be in the ambulance business.”
Baldasaro said Nashua and Manchester have gone to private outsourcing for ambulance service.
For Baldasaro, the shift going on in the cities suggests that municipal ambulance isn’t the way to go.
“A lot of the big cities think outsourcing is a smart move,” he said.
Some residents at the meeting questioned whether private ambulance offered the same quality service as municipal ambulance, but Baldaraso dismissed that notion. Private paramedics receive the same training as a municipal paramedic, he argues, so it shouldn’t jeopardize the quality of local ambulance service.
Fire Chief Kevin MacCaffrie said the town makes in excess of $500,000 annually through providing ambulance service. But when you factor in wages, equipment costs, and benefits for the employees providing the service, the service is either a neutral cost or slightly profitable for the town, he said.
MacCaffrie agreed with Baldaraso that a private ambulance services wasn’t necessarily a downgrade in service.
“A paramedic is a paramedic,” he said.
But MacCaffrie said much research will have to occur before Town Council can make a decision on the issue. Most likely, a committee will need to be formed in order to explore the option, he said.
Town Manager David Caron said the council has not begun investigating ambulance outsourcing as an option yet but has expressed interest in learning more about it.
MacCaffrie said he believes the current ambulance system works fine for the town, however.
“I think Londonderry gets the best service that it can possibly get at this present time,” he said. “The voters chose this type of system, and it operates well.”
Copyright 2010 Union Leader Corp.