By Susan Misur
The New Haven Register
NORTH BRANFORD, Conn. — It’s a life-saving service that most towns have, but a paramedic program remains nonexistent in North Branford.
With budget season approaching, the Fire Department is asking to staff its two ambulances with paramedics and upgrade its basic life support service level.
“If one of you was having a heart attack right now, I have the equipment, but I can’t use it to help you,” Fire Chief William Seward told Town Council members at a recent meeting.
“I can’t use it because regulations say that individuals providing service can only perform to the level the town is certified for. We couldn’t do anything because our service is not a paramedic service.”
The town’s emergency medical technicians can provide basic life support, but fire officials have been hoping for years to upgrade to an advanced life support level, which requires staffing paramedics.
Seward said he twice asked the Town Council’s Finance Committee for a paramedic program years ago since the Fire Department is the designated first responder, but it was rejected for budgetary reasons. The town would have to pay an extra $110,000 a year to run the program, said Anthony Esposito Jr., town finance director and deputy fire chief.
In fiscal 2005-06, the department received 1,207 calls, and in fiscal 2008-09, it received 1,320.
Currently, Fire Department volunteers or EMTs contracted to work for the town through Vintech Management Services, dispatched when someone dials 911.
Volunteers and EMTs have two options when they call a paramedic from another emergency medical service to administer higher-level care to a patient. They can 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 the ambulance continues to the hospital.
“That’s one of the biggest complaints we get from families: ‘Why did you have to pull to the side of the road? Why don’t you have paramedics?’” Seward said.
He estimated that 80 percent of 911 calls the Fire Department receives are medical calls, and that 40 percent of those require a paramedic. If the town contracts with a company providing paramedics, Seward said he would like to see one EMT and one paramedic riding in each ambulance. North Branford would pay a flat fee for the company to provide as many paramedics as needed to cover all shifts, Seward said.
“The unconscious diabetic can be quickly revived, an overdose victim resuscitated from near death, a person with fluid in their lungs prevented from drowning. ... [These] can all be the favorable outcomes by deploying paramedics,” Seward wrote in a report to the council.
Ambulance transport fees paid by patients cover some costs for current operations, but the town currently budgets $50,000 to pay for the rest, Esposito said. That number is down from fiscal 2008- 09 when the town paid $125,000, he said.
If the program is approved, the town will need to pay a total of about $160,000 annually, and a $70,000 start-up cost for advanced life support equipment.
Town Manager Richard Branigan said the council will further review the request when approving the town budget.
“Getting the information prior to the budget process is helpful because then the council can have that background information as it starts to make those difficult decisions,” Branigan said.
Copyright 2010 ProQuest Information and Learning
All Rights Reserved
ProQuest SuperText
Copyright 2010 Journal Register Co.