By Alexandra Perloe
Sentinel & Enterprise
Copyright 2007 MediaNews Group, Inc. and Mid-States Newspapers, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
FITCHBURG, Mass. — Fire Chief Kevin Roy said Friday that preparations were going well.
The new ambulance was getting its finishing touches Friday afternoon, with lettering on the side of the truck, Roy said.
The city reached an agreement with MedStar Ambulance that switches Fitchburg’s primary ambulance service from Patriot Ambulance to Fitchburg-based MedStar, with city firefighters staffing one of the MedStar vehicles.
Roy said he anticipates a fluid transition, especially since one MedStar employee will accompany the firefighters’ ambulance for all trips the first week.
“It’s not like MedStar hasn’t been in the area. So far it’s been smooth,” Roy said.
City firefighters will run one Basic Life Support ambulance, and MedStar employees will staff two Advanced Life Support vehicles.
Eight firefighters -- two per shift -- will staff the ambulance. They were already certified as Emergency Medical Technicians, but received extra training to use the radios that allow them to communicate with the hospitals.
They also learned how to write medical reports and about protocols of admitting patients to the hospital.
The BLS and one ALS vehicle will be at the department’s Central Station, with the other ALS at the Oak Hill station in the city’s Cleghorn neighborhood.
Ward 2 City Councilor Norman Boisvert, whose ward includes Oak Hill, said he welcomes an ambulance stationed there.
“The ambulance service out of Cleghorn is a really good thing. It’s a heavily populated area, densely populated. Why should the ambulance come from Central Station?”
The firefighters who staff the ambulance can also respond to fire calls, which will actually increase staffing.
“Today our minimum is 13. It will be 15 as of Monday,” the chief said.
Fitchburg’s fire department has always dispatched ambulances, and up to until the 1980s, ran its own ambulance service too.
MedStar is providing all three vehicles, and will collect fees from patients and insurance, and then pay the city $400,000 through installments.
The $400,000 is guaranteed -- no higher and no lower -- regardless of how much money MedStar brings in, according to Nick Melehov, one of MedStar’s directors.
Of that, $360,000 pays salaries and benefits for five firefighters, and also restores a fire department clerk position to full-time.
The city council approved this appropriation last month.
The other $40,000 will go into the city’s general fund. The mayor and city councilors touted the one-year contract as a sort of test run, which will let the fire department test a city-run ambulance without standing to risk any money.