By Matt Curatolo
Watertown Daily Times
OGDENSBURG, N.Y. — City Council decided not to support North Star Health Alliance’s plan to create an ambulance service for inter-facility transfers in St. Lawrence, Jefferson and Lewis counties.
Last week, North Star Health Alliance, which includes Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center (CHMC), Ogdensburg, and Carthage Area Hospital, announced that it would move forward with its own ambulance service with a goal of commencing operations by Jan. 1, 2025.
North Star Health Alliance sent a letter to the city of Ogdensburg requesting its support in the form of a letter with a deadline of Sept. 25 . However, prior to the City Council discussing the request, Ogdensburg Volunteer Rescue Squad (OVRS) Emergency Services Chief Kenneth J. Gardner addressed the governing body in a public appearance.
“It has come to my attention the Claxton-Hepburn/North Star Alliance has requested a certificate of need (CON) to start an ambulance service in St. Lawrence, Jefferson and Lewis counties. I unequivocally am against this action. If they request support from this council, I would respectfully request you deny this request, in fact, I ask this council to draft a resolution denying your support for this action,” stated Gardner, adding that if North Star Health Alliance receives the CON, it could run 911 calls and place their ambulances anywhere in the county.
The OVRS has met with Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center on “ways to help alleviate the problem they have created,” even hiring two paramedics to run transports from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., hours that were requested by CHMC, according to Gardner.
Gardner also said last week that OVRS officials met with CHMC for further discussions, with CHMC telling them they had not decided how to proceed. However, the letter the city received was postmarked the day before their meeting and CHMC held a press conference with a media outlet while the meeting was taking place.
“The flat-out dishonesty has destroyed our ability to trust them in future dealings. Although we will still sit down with representatives from North-Star Alliance and try and come to a solution to the problem they created. We believe the reality is that they want to purchase three ambulances and hire 30 employees to start with an eye toward future expansion,” stated Gardner.
The EMS chief added that OVRS has averaged 5.25 inter-facility transports at CHMC per week, with 190 taking place since Jan. 1. If OVRS was to lose the transports, it would result in the loss of current staff and a “need for the communities we serve to come up with additional subsidies of around $200,000 a year to maintain the current level of 911 service.”
Gardner said that he has spoken with other ambulance services in the three counties and all have expressed opposition to the North Star Health Alliance proposal. He asked City Council not to support the plan and not adopt a resolution.
Mayor Michael Tooley said that it was up to the majority of council to decide on the letter of support requested. He did say that it was tight deadline and that the city had very little time to “vet” the proposal. North Star Health Alliance provided very little information on the matter as well, he added.
Councilors voiced their support for the OVRS and took no action on the North Star Health Alliance request.
Councilor Daniel E. Skamperle said that he would follow Gardner’s lead and “I am going to support the OVRS.”
Councilors Jennifer Stevenson agreed.
“I cannot support sending a letter in support of this at all at this time,” she said, “I am just really concerned that if this has been put together so quickly and so inadequately that I am concerned of this service going forward at this point. This is not giving council a lot of time to vet anything, ask any questions. I truly cannot support this in any way.”
Councilor Michael Powers saw the proposal as a potential “money grab” by North Star Health Alliance and voiced his support for the OVRS,
“I’m not saying that the service isn’t needed. Obviously medical care is vital to the health of anybody that’s injured and or is ailing in any way shape or form, but ultimately the timing of this and structure when it came out, Ken’s (Gardner) outline of the dates and times and the potential misleading of information is troublesome for me and I will not support this at all,” said Powers.
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