The Times-Tribune
NEWTON TWP., Pa. — Newton Ransom Volunteer Fire Company’s ambulance service’s low response rate leaves its license in jeopardy.
Officials decided to move forward with a committee to brainstorm ideas for a solution, to include finding ways to increase volunteers at the company.
Supervisors from both Newton and Ransom townships, members of the fire company and residents of both municipalities met at the fire hall Tuesday night to discuss how to raise the response rate for the department’s emergency medical responders.
Personnel from the fire company’s emergency medical services serve both townships, home to about 4,270 people spread out over 40 square miles, according to Cody Stanco, the department’s emergency medical services captain. The company has one ambulance and four active emergency medical technicians at its disposal.
Between Aug. 1, 2015, and July 31, the company received 288 calls that required transporting a patient; they were only able to respond to 70 of those, Mr. Stanco said. Ambulances from South Abington Twp., Clarks Summit and Lake Winola responded to the rest.
If services can’t respond to a large enough portion of calls where they are contracted to do so, they run the risk of having their license expire, Mr. Stanco said.
The problem? A shortage of volunteers, Mr. Stanco said. Regulations require that two people — a driver and an EMT — must respond to a call. A newer regulation stipulates that just to be able to drive the ambulance, a person must be certified as an emergency medical responder, which requires 140 hours of training and costs hundreds of dollars.
In addition to forming a committee, meeting attendees discussed other ideas, including reaching out to the school district to attract younger volunteers and explore hiring a grant writer to fund recruiting efforts.
Its license expires at the end of the year, Mr. Stanco said. The company has until the end of October to apply for a new, three-year license with the state Bureau of Emergency Medical Services. It could also be awarded a provisional, one-year license if it shows it is taking steps to improve the response rate, he added. It will ultimately be up to the state to decide which license, if any, the company receives.
Should the fire company lose the license, it would be up to township supervisors to find another provider.
“The reality is, we might get to the point where we don’t have an ambulance service,” Newton Twp. Chairman Supervisor Douglas Pallman said. “We don’t want to get to that. We need to find solutions now to correct that.”
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